Sevenfold: Ember and Wildfire
by Trilies
Summary: No one is entirely sure how the person responsible for nearly bringing about the end of the world keeps ending up a parent, and that includes the person himself. Thus, the story of how Chaos once again accidentally made a child, and how he had to figure out how to raise a young newborn god mostly on his own. :: Part 2 of Sevenfold, a KHR God AU
1. The Myth

As the world was reestablishing itself, assembling the bits and pieces that made it so, the Arcobaleno sat amongst themselves as they often did in those beginning times before they settled in their own realms. The children who were not children, immortal elder beings that are more than gods. The Arcobaleno. Eight in total, and so often divided in their views.

It was such a division that arose in this conversation. This time, it was between the Mirrored Pair and the Marksman. With so much time having passed, it's impossible to say which of the pair issued the challenge- the woman with hair as dark as the depths of the ocean or the man with eyes as clear a blue as rain reflecting the sky. Regardless, they shared the same doubt towards a statement the Marksman had made. He claimed, after all, that he could do more destruction with one careless gesture than they could do together with effort. It should be no surprise that they took offense at that.

Before blows could come to pass, their shadow hooded kin gave a scoff. "All I'm hearing is mindless boasting on either side," they grumbled. "If I wanted nothing but words, then I'd listen to the wind howling, or the youngest among us complain."

As the youngest protested, another of their number gave a knowing smile. Their crimson hearted brother rarely participated in such squabbles personally, but he was infamous for nudging things forward to more interesting paths. "That is a point finely made," he added, leaning forward with his lips gently curved and his hands tucked into his robes. "If you wish to prove something, would it not be wise to do so with actions instead of your voice?"

"I don't have to prove anything," the Marksman pointed out calmly. "But if it's a demonstration you want, I'll be glad to give one."

And that was how around half their number took to what would be, could be, might've been a forest before a part of the world had been ravaged with parts of itself adrift. One to demonstrate, two for the challenge, and two for the show. Quite satisfied with the turnabout, he turned back to the ground that had been chosen. All it took was a flick of his fingers, and some errant embers left from his fingertips.

The embers were small but glowed brightly, and soon enough that glow was consuming all it could in a vicious wildfire. It was a scene full of nothing more or less than pure chaos, a sphere in which the Marksman himself was at home in, and he gave a pointed gesture to it as things turned to ash.

This was the sort of thing he had meant- even embers could turn into wildfires. It was a hard thing to argue against; the Mirrored Pair didn't try.

Yet in the ashes of the could-have-been forest, there were still embers. In those embers there was still power, although it was not even a hair of the Marksman's. Thus those embers gained life, forming into eyes as brilliant as topaz.

So was the God of Ember and Wildfire born.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Since this is a God AU, I do plan on eventually writing a fic focusing on how mortals react to them and how this translates into religion and such! Thus, if you have any questions on *that* aspect of this AU, please feel free to leave a comment with it here on this fic or hit me up with an ask on my tumblr (trilies). It'll take a while until I get to that point as I want to introduce some more of the gods and entities, but it will happen eventually!

Thank you for reading.


	2. Emberborn

A soft breeze flows through the golden fields here.

Reborn breathes it in, lets the air fill his chest and test the stretch of his lungs. Distantly, somewhere else, he can feel his realm solidify as well. The jagged black walls that make up Chaos' domain, that make up his sense of self, are slowly smoothing out. Eventually, he knows, they will become the exact opposite of what he is at his core. The walls, the floor, the ceiling: all will be smooth and without flaw, a pale contrast to the darkness that keeps him in check. All that will interrupt that empty long room will be towering columns. Oh, it hasn't happened _yet_ , but it will happen eventually. Reborn knows this in the same way rock knows how a persistent drop of water will carve out a path.

It's simply a matter of waiting.

However, even bound and quieted as he is, Reborn can't exactly say that his idea of a _fun time_ is sitting in a room watching it _very_ slowly smooth out. Even just a minute- or maybe it had been a year? Time is so strange- had been more than enough for him.

So. Here he is. Within the small realm that has bloomed gladly under Dino's touch. Off in the distance, a herd of horses grazes serenely amongst the plains and some of the foals prance through shining wheat. Truly Dino is his mother's son. Sure, he's in perfect health and full of energy, unlike Reborn, so finding and creating a space for himself wasn't as much of a struggle. Still. Reborn had seen how easily this section of the realm had unfurled at Dino's steps, filling emptiness with life and gold. It is a place both of the immaterial, the ethereal, and yet connected to so many places more earthly. Wherever horses roam, wherever mortal hands are at work, these fields will lead there.

Reborn is still quite proud of that, frankly. His and Luce's child, the world's firstborn god, and his domain is so encompassing.

The sound of hooves beating against earth draws his attention, and he gives a slight nod of greeting to the horse which travels up to him. "Romario."

"Reborn." The stallion bows his head, well mannered as always. "Good to see your health is well."

"Well enough," Reborn agrees, forcing his hand to stay down instead of reaching up to fiddle with the dark clothes that are wrapped around him. All too often, every second, they are suffocating. In the time since Fon had secured that first cloak around his body, they've changed. Now an entire outfit is what lays across his form, robes and slippers that are still as dark as his eyes. The cloak hasn't left, however. As it has for some time now, it lays heavy over his shoulders and shifts smoothly along with his movements.

Romario says nothing about it, on the basis that he's more common sense than some of Reborn's kin. Instead, he says, "Better than not. Are you waiting for Dino?"

"Not today." Sweeping a hand through his hair, Reborn glances over the fields again. In the distance, a thin trail of smoke curls lazily skywards. Here, it could be a connection to the mortal world or where Dino has made a more steady home. Either way, for as long as he had been tending him, his firstborn could use the space. Both of them could. "I only came to see how things are changing. Kyoya Hibari has changed the layout of this realm as well, hasn't he?"

"It neighbors our fields, in fact." A distinct amusement is laced throughout the horse's tone. "I think he wishes for a rematch, although he disappears so often into his forests that it's hard to say."

Ah. The memory of what started his whole interest in picking the world apart flickers into his mind, and Reborn sets to thinking about other matters as fast as he can. "Good to see he's keeping Dino on his toes then," he says, voice still level. As it should be- he's been practicing on that. Another reason why being alone in his realm had been grinding his patience down. There's only so many times even a being such as himself can sit and do the same thing over and over again. Maybe especially so, considering his essence. "Any other interesting changes that have happened?"

Romario's hoof digs briefly at the ground as he considers the question. "Well, I doubt it's an interesting thing to you, but I have learned a small trick."

"Then by all means..." Reborn inclines his head to him slightly. "Go right ahead."

Turning away, the spiritual steed begins to circle around him with a smooth trot. As he moves, sparks flicker into existence along his hide, burning brighter and faster until he's engulfed... and, only a second later, steps out from the flames in the form of an older man with short black hair and a mustache above his smiling lips.

Reborn quirks up an eyebrow, almost as amused as Romario had been a moment before. "Are you playing coy in an attempt to fish for compliments?" Because that kind of thing- of something that was once mortal growing so different from the single touch of a god- is _extremely_ interesting.

With fire as well? Of course it's Dino's touch.

Romario's smile is hardly hidden beneath the bushiness of his mustache as he ducks his head and laughs. "Now what would make you say that?"

It's a good companion that Dino has found himself. Reborn can let that be a comfort, at least. Still, he's been here long enough, and the small talk has done its job. Rising up to his feet, he nods to Romario. "Perhaps you'll have more interesting things when I stop by next time," he says simply before shifting away from the soft fields of Dino's home. Existence is wide, and there are plenty more places for him to look over to see what has changed with his focus away from them.

It might be bias that has him go to Her realm first. All of the Arcobaleno have settled themselves in, no longer roaming the earth although there's no denying their connection to it. While he was out of action as the others made their little retreats, he has no doubt that. Much like Dino, Creation crafted Hers with graceful ease. That's what it feels like as he lets his feet touch Her realm, a perfect opposite to his own. All of them are so tightly intertwined, but maybe there's a reason he was able to create a god with Her without even needing to think. Thick greenery presses in on him, bloated with flowers and fruits, and he can see small creatures of all sorts scurrying inbetween the layers of foliage. Up high above, the shadows of birds are cast over him through the gaps of sunlight. Something distantly rotting reaches his nose, a sour scent.

All of Creation thrives here. Every single beautiful and ugly bit.

She's waiting for him in a small clearing- Yuni this time, Her fingers weaving stalks of flowers into each other to make a ring while Skull has his head in Her lap. Even as the Arcobaleno of Suffering jerks upwards, Yuni smiles in Reborn's direction. "Do you like it?" She asks, politely ignoring how Skull tries to hold himself tall and imposing. (It's not working.)

Glancing over the full and thriving realm but not daring to touch any of it, Reborn cocks his head to the side. "It suits you," he says, and enjoys the warmth that winds tight in his chest when She smiles. "So what is Skull doing here?"

Skull is on his feet properly now, which unfortunately means he's in the mood to be chatty in the worst way. Reborn's suspicion is proven correct when the other gestures to himself, hand flinging outwards before coming to rest on his chest. "I've been recuperating!" he says, voice far too loud even for the clamor that comes with Creation's realm. "It took a _lot_ of work to rein you in after all the trouble you caused!" All it takes is for Reborn to flash his gaze in his direction, and Skull shuts up.

Unfortunately for him, that's not enough for the marksman, especially not when he's this tired and his temper on strings. Only that which is wrapped tight around him- that which he has to reluctantly admit that Skull put around his form although he did _nothing else_ \- keeps him from lashing out. "Then shouldn't Lal Mirch be in your place?" he says instead, gaining a petty amount of satisfaction from the way Skull flinches.

Before the situation can get worse in any way, even slightly, Aria speaks up glibly. "She'll be here soon, actually."

Reborn freezes right as Skull flails a little bit, the latter yelping, "What!?"

"I think the others have expressed wanting to visit as well," Luce adds, fingers still patiently weaving flower stalks together.

There's no chance for him to politely excuse himself, or flat out leave. Thunder rolls throughout the air, a storm crashing through the peaceful silence, and it's only the abundant leaves absorbing most of the rain that lets Reborn keeps dry as a sudden shower pounds down against them. From one side, Lal Mirch and Colonello emerge. Their weary go over Fon, who trails along them smiling. From the other side, Verde arrives with his mouth already open to no doubt ask some question or other. Abruptly, as he realizes the situation he's walked into, he snaps it shut.

All six of them, Skull included, stand utterly still in the clearing.

Luce smiles. Even as it puts him in this kind of position, Reborn can't help but feel that burning warm feeling in his chest. He loves Her when She's tricky like this.

Among all of them, Fon is the first to recover, lips curving in faint amusement as he looks over everyone who is assembled. "It is nice to see us gathered," he says lightly, something he probably believes. When they're all together, the more likely things are to become a mess. Reborn supposes that's what they have in common, although he'd rather not deal with it now. "Well, all of us save one."

It's true. While Mammon is small and can often be subtle when the mood strikes them, they're nowhere to be found in Creation's lush home. Reborn can't even feel them nearby.

Normally, he wouldn't think it unusual. Mammon is simply like that. Yet he's suspecting something has been happening while he's been recovering when Skull huffs out, "What have they been _doing_ lately? Does anyone even know where they've gone?"

"They've been absent?" Reborn asks, inwardly more than glad to talk about the mystery of Mammon instead of looking over the ruined trail of skin that is spread across Lal Mirch's cheek. If it's been long enough for one of their own to be noticeably missing and she still hasn't healed...

Aria's voice distracts him from thinking much further. "Mammon has their own things to do, I'm sure they'll turn up eventually."

Turning on his heel, Verde waves a dismissive hand at them. "If this gathering is going to be nothing more than idle gossip, I have other things to pay mind to."

"You always have other things to pay mind to," Reborn says dryly, and is surprised when Colonello snorts a little from the side in agreement.

"What's so interesting about the mortal world right now anyway?" The blond nods his head to Aria. "Everything is still recovering again, right?"

Verde takes a long deep breath to settle his _own_ self before he turns back to face them all with one of his typical smug smirks that says more than words how idiotic he finds all of them. "As a matter of _fact_ , recovery in the aftermath of disaster is what makes that world so fascinating. Creatures adapt, or change, or become new from destruction. For humans, this is especially fascinating. Even on their own, without outside help, the cooperation of humans can be amazingly disastrous for other parts of the world."

News like that is enough to make Colonello puff up proudly, a contrast to the stern nod from Lal Mirch as if this is only to be expected. "You shouldn't be surprised, hey!" he says, brash and confident. "That's how strong bonds are!"

As he is now, Reborn should have more control. The void should be tight around him, constraining him to this form. Yet it's still around him, still settling only _some_ parts of himself, because in the end he can't help but raise an eyebrow and ask, "So there's nothing stronger?"

From the side, Fon is already smiling in quiet anticipation, and Verde rolls his eyes before turning on his heel to disappear. Reborn can't say he's surprised with either reaction. It's the bound pair that have his attention, who he watches from the corner of his eyes. Really, the pair of them are perfectly in-sync as they first stiffen slightly in surprise before stepping forward all bristle. Only perhaps Creation could beat them from how well they match.

"Do you have something to say?" Lal snaps, eyes flashing in warning.

Colonello is speaking already as well. "Is that a challenge?"

"Just something to consider," he counters simply, watching Luce's fingers patiently weave flowers together. "It sounds as if a lot of effort is being put into what Verde spoke of. A lot of it could be undone if any of the rest in our number merely flicked a finger." Or in his case, started to tug on a wayward string...

But that's not what either of them want to hear. He can already see their lips parting, ready for another shot. Yet it's neither Lal Mirch's voice or Colonello's that suddenly speaks up. "You know, all I'm starting to hear is empty _boasting_." Reborn resists the urge to squeeze his eyes shut and smash the back of his head against tree bark, because the owner of that voice is the _last_ person who needs to get involved in this. From the plants behind Yuni, mist creeps out, settling behind Her until Mammon can lazily sit against one side. Along with the usual wet smell that they carry with them, Mammon's mist is filled with the scent of salt and sea. It'd be intriguing, if they weren't poking their nose into this whole business. "If I wanted _that_ , I'd ask Skull to tell me all about what he can do."

"Wh- hey!"

Fon's smile grows more sly with every passing second, and Reborn is already wary of what he'll say before he says it. "Mammon has a point," he says agreeably, 'politely' ignoring the grumble Mammon makes at any contribution of his even if it's technically in their favor. "If anyone here wishes to prove something, well- actions are sometimes louder than the voice."

The worst part is that he can't even be angry at any of them, not with cause. Reborn _knows_ he's the one who couldn't keep his word to himself. So, eyes on him, he rolls his shoulders up in an elegant shrug. "I don't have to prove anything. Still, if you want a demonstration, it's no problem on my end to give one."

Luce doesn't stop them. Yuni doesn't either. In fact, Aria actually says, "If you're really going to do anything, then you might as well do it here." She nods Her head, simple as you please, in the direction of one particular path through the trees. "Some areas of the world that were destroyed are still... sorting themselves out here. So I doubt it's going to change much if you do whatever you like."

Surely She must have something up Her sleeve... But Reborn doesn't argue against it. His pride has been laid out on the line, so now it's time for him to carry through. That is how he and a handful of the others end up in the part of Her realm that's ephemeral and _strange_.

It's the best way to describe it. Out in the land of mortals, fever dreams have more physicality than the land She is slowly repairing. Beneath his feet, despite holding him up perfectly well, the ground is unusually soft. Around all of them, the trees are simultaneously too faint and as old as any of their number. Established and yet malleable, young and yet old- no wonder they were shafted over here.

Taking position amongst the trees, Reborn glances back at the audience that he's gathered for himself. His gaze doesn't care to linger long on Lal Mirch, her eyes burning bright over the scarring twisting her skin, or Colonello, subtly trying to position himself a little in front of her. Whenever it comes to the other two who make up the small crowd, however, he sighs a little.

"I wasn't aware you two were part of the bet," he says dryly.

Fon tries to hide his smile behind one long red sleeve in the manner of one who isn't really trying that hard at all. "Shouldn't there be an audience when it comes to a wager such as this one?" he asks coyly. "A third party that holds no bias."

In contrast to Fon- or perhaps _because_ of Fon- Mammon is more honest. "I just want to see what idiocy _this_ results in."

Catalyst and Desire. Out of all of the Arcobaleno, there are no others who tug at his own essence quite as much. Still, trying to chase them away might just invite an argument and through an argument... Well. It's best not to think too heavily on that. For all of them, the course of action least likely to court misfortune may simply be to let them sit and watch. With that careful thinking done with, he turns away.

"Creatures that work in groups," he says, " _can_ do a lot. It's why those humans, still weak independently, can hunt enormous creatures for food or take down enormous trees to cart back as shelter." Glancing over his shoulder, he raises both an eyebrow and a single hand. "But it seems a little much to say that there's nothing stronger than their unity."

Suddenly, sharply, his fingers snap together and a spark erupts from the grind to leap out onto the forest floor. However strange its existence must be, it still reacts to his touch like any other place: catching alight, the spark becoming flames, fire leaping out from one home to the next until the forest is _overwhelmed_ with it all. As fire engulfs it, surrounding them, he turns back to his audience pointedly.

"It only takes a spark to take out what a group could do in longer time."

"Show off," Mammon says glibly, even as Colonello grits his teeth and Lal's eyes burn as bright as the flames.

Well. As bright as the fire in its peak. Perhaps from the severity of it, perhaps because this is Her domain of Creation, it dies out just as fast as it had started. Gray and black wash over the little patch of forest, matching the cloak he wears, and Reborn carelessly glances at the ash that rests along his shoulders. Well, there are consequences, he supposes.

Turning to the group again, he prepares to ask what Colonello and Lal Mirch think _now_ when Fon's eyes light up. He steps forward, head cocked to the side, sharp as a bird's. The attention of catalyst is never a good thing; that alone has Reborn glance over his shoulder to see just what is so interesting.

He freezes.

He'd been too careless in dismissing the area around him as dead and gray. Amidst a pile of ash, something glows bright in defiance of his expectations. There's nothing impressive about it save its sole existence in the midst of emptiness. It's merely an ember. Yet as they stare, sparks crackle out from it, faster and brighter and _hotter_ \- until flames burst upwards in a twist of life once more. Unlike that which had come from Reborn's hand, however, it doesn't devour all it can greedily, and not only because there's nothing to _be_ devoured. It keeps to itself- _they_ keep to themself, fire turning in on fire, and a pair of eyes more brilliant than any topaz form.

He stares at them.

They stare back... and begin _screaming_.

 _Coincidentally_ , that's around the time Mammon starts to double over in laughter. Their sudden burst of mirth manages to be in time with how Reborn hurries over, trying to _look_ like he's _not_ hurrying over, to the newfound life. "Did you make _another_ one?" Mammon wheezes out. Scooping the fire up into one arm, he snaps the other out to lash out at them, but it's no use. All that's left for his attack to go through is a patch of mist, twisting lazily past the trees.

So now there's only him, Colonello, Lal Mirch, Fon, and a tiny screaming burning bundle of existence in his arms. Wonderful.

While he's kept from looking at her head on, it's easy to see Lal Mirch grinding the heels of her palms into her ears. "Does that one ever _shut up_?" she yells over the screaming, and Reborn glances down at the flames which are crawling along his bent arm.

"No," he says.

Still, if there's anyone who can quiet a child...

Yuni is exactly where She was left when Reborn returns to the little clearing, Skull crouched down besides Her. He quickly stands up when Reborn arrives, arms spinning to maintain his balance, but Reborn says nothing to him. Instead, he simply holds out his still blazing arm. "We have an issue."

To Her credit, Aria doesn't burst out laughing at his predicament. Oh, by all means, She's grinning as if only just discovering how for the first time, but She isn't _laughing_. "The world is certainly filling up quickly," She says fondly as She gets up to Her feet and approaches him without an ounce of hesitation. "Alright, let's see you, shall we? Or at least the you that's not completely covered in fire."

Aria doesn't offer Her arm to be set alight, as Reborn had done. Instead, She curls Her arms around the flames, gathering them up towards Her chest in the way only a patient mother can. In a heartbeat, She's whisked them away from Reborn and he can only watch as She kneels down. From Her grasp falls the fire, burning brightly in place. It's then that Aria starts to patiently dust him off, as if getting rid of dust instead of anything that can burn flesh off bone.

And it works. With each patient swat of Her hand, the flames abide, and show in their place muscle and skin. There a chest, then down to reveal stomach and hips and awkward soft legs. She saves the head for last once She's sure they have two feet to stand upon. A little incredulous, Reborn watches the chubby cheeks that get patted, his latest child's face scrunched up as Aria works on them. Finishing up, Her hands reveal wild messy brown hair that droops, and She finally steps back. Brilliant topaz eyes are what Reborn can clearly remember showing from the flames. However, with Aria's absence, the child opens their eyes once more and stares out into the realm with wide brown.

He- that of which Reborn is a little more sure now that his existence is more stable- has been still screaming this entire time. Yet as they all watch, it quietly tapers down. The young new god hiccups.

That's enough to have Aria beaming. "There!" She says, with quite a bit of finality.

"Hmmm..." At some point, Fon had shown up and Reborn had ignored him, yet his voice draws his attention now. "He's not quite what I was expecting... He's rather different from Dino."

He's not wrong about that. Dino had emerged into the world exactly how Reborn would have wanted him to, their connection alive in his golden hair and his place in the world firmly solidified even before he had found it. There'd never been any doubt that he would be a powerful force. Yet looking at the awkward adolescent who Aria pets fondly... Reborn isn't quite seeing the same thing here.

Before he can say anything one way or another about the observation, Fon turns to him and smiles. "Still, as always, your fertility is quite impressive, Reborn."

...It's always obvious why Mammon can't stand Fon, but, times like this, it's even clearer.

"I provide nothing but the best," he deadpans, because giving Fon a reaction is exactly what he wants. He's interrupted from saying anything else as a newly born adolescent is suddenly dumped in his arms, and he blinks in bewilderment at Aria over a bird's nest of brown hair.

All She does is smile at him. "You have to name him," She reminds him casually. "He can't go wandering around without a name. In fact, he can't go wandering around without knowing his purpose, either, so you should go take care of that."

Such a simple task, and yet it fills his veins with ice and boils bile in his throat. Dino had been left in Luce's hands for a reason, when he had first been born. Not only had his attention been so fickle back in those days, but Reborn does not, _can not_ , trust his own touch. It keeps off of his face well enough, although not with considerable effort, as he stares down at the young god and wonders how he has not already fallen apart into flame and ash again. It seems like a thing that would be fitting.

Yet in the end, She's right. A name is needed, if only for his own ease. "Tsuna," he says, setting the boy down onto ground. "Let's go." To where? He's not sure. It can't be his own realm, and not only because it puts him on edge to even think of another person there. So, in the end... Reborn takes him to the only other place he can think of.

Dino is over the moon when he sees his newest sibling, because of course he is.

"Look at him," he says, grin wide as Tsuna skitters away from a nearby herd of horses and nearly trips into a pond. The meadows have quite a few of them, Reborn is pretty sure. "Was I that awkward and small when I first started out?"

Idly, Reborn thinks back. It'd been missed for a moment, him and Her so shocked at the creation of something neither mortal nor Arcobaleno, but he feels relatively certain that Dino had tried to stand up and instead, somehow, had gotten a face full of dirt. "You were full formed," he says in lieu of that, not denying parts of the observation. What's different is what's important to him. Tsuna seems close to Skull's testament to disaster, Kyoya Hibari, than Dino. He's in the form of an adolescent than a grown person. Faintly, he wonders if there's something that decides it or, befitting of a creature like himself, the process is utterly random. It still doesn't make him feel any better that he's close to Skull in any aspect.

While he thinks, he and Dino watch the young god cautiously investigate some of the pond turtles. "Well, he'll probably adjust when he figures out his place in things," Dino says lightly, snorting into his hand when Tsuna shouts at the snap of a small turtle's mouth. "That's how it's going with Kyoya. Every time I see him, I think he's become a little more-" He pauses abruptly. "I was going to say 'more adjusted' but that sounds wrong for some reason."

Reborn smirks a little. "Has he stopped trying to attack you yet?"

A distant glaze takes over Dino's eyes. For a second, all he does is stare off into the distance over the fields. "It's amazing how much energy he has," he says at long last. "Honestly? If it wasn't so much fun, I'd say he has too much of it."

'Fun'. He really is Reborn's and it's times like this which remind him of it. So far, there's nothing yet that suggests Tsuna is the same. At least, Reborn can't see it as the boy tentatively pats the shell of one of the more sedate turtles. "You simply wandered around before you found what domain you ruled over, didn't you?" he asks idly, arms crossed and his fingers lightly tapping.

"Well, I mean..." Stepping forward, Dino nudges some of the small turtles across the pond and in Tsuna's direction. "It wasn't quite as simple as that? Except it sort of was." Reborn raises an eyebrow at him and Dino shrugs his shoulders, hands held out helplessly. "I'd _always_ felt a tug, from the second I'd formed enough to feel things. Once I found a part of it, Romario and all other horses, then everything else fell into place?" They're of the same mind, because even as Reborn looks over to Tsuna, Dino is calling the boy himself. "Heeeeey, Tsuna! Come here for a second!"

One close call into the pond later, and the young god in question is trotting over with a small train of little turtles hanging onto the edges of his clothes. As he settles down onto the ground to begin the laborious process of removing their jaws, Tsuna blinks up at them. They're only turtles, able to fit in the palm of his hand, yet his eyes are wide beneath scrunched together brows. "Yeah?" he asks, voice cracking a little bit from the apparently great amount of stress that tiny turtles are placing on him. Reborn sighs.

Showing that he's always going to be his mother's child just as much as Reborn's, Dino laughs at him even as he starts to helpfully remove the turtles. "Do you feel any sort of tugging in you? Like in here-" Reaching over, he splays his fingers across Tsuna's chest. "Or up here?" They go upwards, tapping lightly at Tsuna's skull. Carefully, he watches as the younger god reaches up to touch where Dino's own had been only a moment before.

It's a long moment as Tsuna thinks, only for the end result to be a small shake of his head. "I just feel fuzzy," he mutters, grimacing in a way that has nothing to do with how a turtle tears at his clothing as he removes it. "The only time I didn't feel as bad was in the garden."

The garden- oh. Well, there's no way they can keep Tsuna there with Her for eternity. Reborn steps forward, and Tsuna glances up at him with a particular quirk of his mouth. The way he squints at him reminds Reborn of the way he wants to stare down at the young god. Well, at least in that area, they're on the same terms. "I think the only thing to do then," he announces, "is to do a little bit of searching."

" _Where_?" asks Tsuna, still so new to existence and not knowing of the world he can go to beyond Her realm or Dino's field. At the sight of Reborn's grin, he immediately twists his face and says with no words how much he suddenly doesn't want to know.

Well, too bad. He's stuck with them now.

The mortal earth is recovering nicely when Reborn and his sons step onto it. Then again, was he ever expecting anything less? This is the place that She created, and which holds a portion of all of the Arcobaleno. Even when he was going on his rampage, he wasn't able to affect more than a relatively small portion of it existence before the others found him. He's always known it's sturdy. What he doesn't know is a lot more, at least firsthand, and Reborn takes his time making his way through its many forests and mountains. If there's one place he avoids, well... A glance back at Dino, laughing and gold as he uses an apple to play catch with Tsuna, shows his eldest isn't paying any mind to where they wander. Good.

Days and nights pass, and none of them give any answers about his newest son. If anything, Tsuna is more hapless than he first thought. Roots constantly catch his feet. Many animals don't seem to care for him, or at least cause him trouble. A part of it seems to be plain bad luck but, honestly, the boy is just oblivious as well. At one point, Reborn bends a tree back and lets it go right when he's in range, only to watch as Tsuna gets smacked with it right onto the ground with a yelp.

"Reborn!" Dino's tone is equal parts alarmed and exasperated as he hurries over to his younger brother. " _Really_?"

"Pay attention," he calls back, stepping past the trees. "You're too slow, Tsuna." While the two get back to their feet, Reborn pauses as he overlooks the area they've arrived at now. Maybe Tsuna isn't a god of plants and animals, as Kyoya Hibari is and even Dino leans to. In that case... Before him, a thriving community has carved a place for itself between the forest and a large quiet lake. In the warmth of sunset, he can already see people returning from the waters and from a path that's been carved through the forest. Reborn carefully scans over the settlement, taking in the size and build of the shelters they've made. Certainly, they're an improvement from the buildings he can recall from his earlier memories, but that's not what he's looking for. What he's looking for... is the largest building of the lot, built closest to the shore with plenty of space around it so that no one else is too close. The arrogance is almost enough to smirk, and he nods his head to his sons as the pair of them finally step out from the trees as well. "Make yourself visible to mortals."

No explanation is offered to either of them. Reborn simply starts to make his way down to the small village, adjusting the cloak around his shoulders. It only takes a few changes- fewer than some might think in fact. His hair falls in longer curls, his jawline becomes a little smoother, and it's done.

From Dino's other side, Tsuna blinks at him. "You changed?" he says, a question hanging on the very edge of his words.

"Mhm."

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to," Reborn says simply, which is true enough. It had occurred to him, so why not do it? Man or woman or otherwise, she finds no reason to hold herself back in such matters.

At least it's a little amusing to see Tsuna try to puzzle over this, nose scrunching up to match his brows. "So are you like that other person?"

"Use your words, Tsuna. _What_ person?"

"The one who disappeared."

Ah. Right. It'd be a mild mistake to think that Tsuna's awareness had only been when Aria had helped him take form. Embers had existed before that, and he'd grown eyes not too long after. "You're thinking of Mammon," Reborn says as the three of them merge easily into the crowds of mortals that are returning home. "Mammon is different. They're themself, not man or woman." A pause as she considers this. "Well. Unless they wanted to be." When it comes to the personification of desire, it's wise to not make any absolutes in what they do or don't want. "I'm different."

"...I don't have to, right?"

"No unless you want to, Tsuna," Dino says casually, ruffling his brother's hair. "So what are we doing again?"

"You'll see." For the time being, however, she takes her two offspring at a casual pace through the small village. It's not the largest one- she feels in her bones that there are much bigger- but it is on a fast track to such a size. Plenty of people bustle through the small paths that have been worn between the buildings, all sorts of things in hand. Tools, nets bursting with fish, woven baskets that are empty or hold bustles of herbs- the list goes on. None of it is new to Reborn. Ever since Dino had first touched mortals, they had begun to develop at breakneck speeds. Her eldest in question swells with pride as they walk through, in fact, his eyes shining and his grin bright. Reaching over, Reborn lightly bops him upside the head. "Don't get cocky."

Laughing, Dino ruffles his hair. "Hey, hey, I can be a little proud!"

As Dino laughs, Tsuna takes his time looking everywhere and Reborn watches him carefully for any signs of- something. Anything. She wasn't there, really, when Dino found his domain; what is she supposed to look for? Nothing stands out to Reborn in Tsuna's surprised gaping as he takes in the village. It reminds her of Luce, in a way... That quiet delight in the state of the world.

There's no time for reminiscence. Later, maybe. They've arrived at the opening of the abode which has had Reborn's eye, and she glances over the stilts which keep it above flood water. With Dino and Tsuna behind her, Reborn smirks a little before raising one hand and knocking upon the door.

It doesn't take long for it to open, although only a crack, and a pair of suspicious eyes squint at her. Ah, the suspicious sort. Reborn wonders if there's any claim to such a feeling, or if it's a concoction brewed up inside the mortal's own skull. That's the beautiful thing about them, really: nothing eats them up from the inside out more than a person's own recognition of how they're not doing fair by others.

And the make, position, and size of the house suggests that they've done _very_ unfairly to the rest in this little village.

"Hello," Reborn says, trying to smile without looking _too_ suspicious. "My sons and I have been traveling, and we've just arrived here. Would you happen to have room for us so we can rest for the night before we go on our way tomorrow?"

The answer is one she's expecting. Imperiously, the man's lips curl, and he glances over the trio before him. Reborn doesn't doubt her own looks, slick and dark, but she can't say the same for her sons. Dino tends towards simple clothing, a comfortable robe and sturdy boots finely representing his role as a god of workers. Tsuna? Well, for a newly born god, there's not much... He seems to have taken to copying Dino for lack of any better ideas. So long as it works, she supposes...

Still. Apparently it's not impressive enough for this particular mortal's tastes. "We don't have the food for three more people," he says, the lie drooling from his deceitful tongue. "So we have no room. May the forest shelter you well enough." There's not even a second to spare for any thanks or further questions. Just like that, the door is closed in their faces, and Reborn lets out a snort of a laugh.

"Well," Dino says from behind him, deadpan, "it could have been worse."

"None of us look anything like each other," Tsuna says with quiet dawning bewilderment.

Turning on her heel, Reborn walks past the two of them. "We're alike where it matters," she says simply, although even she has to wonder sometimes. "Now come on." From the corner of her eye, she can see Dino patting Tsuna along.

Small torches line up along the pathways, and people are beginning to light them as their group goes through the village again. It adds a little more light than what the moon grants normally. Not a lot of people are outside of their homes by now, the smoke that curls out lazily from their homes telling of warm fires crackling and fulfilling food being prepared. Still, there is some chatter taking place outside as neighbors talk with one another and others finish late tasks. As Reborn wanders, Dino speeds up a little so that their steps are in-sync.

"So what are we _doing_?" he asks, raising an eyebrow. "You have to be doing this for a reason..." A pause. "Right?" Ha. Good on him to make sure.

"He's obviously not a god of nature. Something would have clicked by now." At least, Kyoya Hibari had certainly made himself at home in the woods in no small time without any help. Whether future gods of similar domain would do the same is a mystery they don't know yet. "Humans are intensely varied. Perhaps spending time with them will kick him into gear." A smirk slashes across her face. "And if all else fails, we can throw him into the deep end."

He'd been glancing at a passing shrine to himself but, at those words, Dino jerks around to face her. "Wait- Reborn what do you _mean_ deep end-"

"Where's Tsuna?" she asks, half to change the subject, half because they have in fact lost him.

Seriously. He's nowhere around.

It's not really something to laugh about, so it's probably bad of Reborn to want to at the distressed keen that falls out of Dino's mouth. "Tsuna!" he calls, turning right on his heel to go back the way he'd come. It's not a forest they've lost him in, after all. Reborn really doubts that their young god has gone far.

True enough, all it takes is going down one path and turning down a smaller one before Tsuna's found. A set of large woven baskets has been placed into his arms and towers over his head of spiky hair. Besides him, a woman with short brown hair is smiling amiably and chatters away at him. As Dino hurries over, with Reborn following at a more relaxed pace, she beams at them. "Oh, hello! You must be Tsuna's family! He _just_ told me about you all." From behind his stack of baskets, Tsuna peers out almost helplessly.

Reborn smiles back, amused despite herself. "That's right," she says with a nod, coming to a stop as Dino helps keep the baskets from tipping over. Even he seems to be laughing quietly at the sight. "It looks like he's been useful to you."

"Oh, he's been very helpful!" she gushes cheerfully. "He _did_ knock them over, but he was certainly eager to help after." Gently, her hair goes to rest in his wild hair. "That's the important thing, isn't it?"

"We're hoping to raise him well," Dino says, grinning as he gives a much harder ruffle into Tsuna's mane. "I'm Dino and this is our mother. We've been..." Pausing, he glances over to Reborn. "Looking for a place to stay the night at."

That's all the woman needs to hear before she beams, and starts to hurry Tsuna and Dino along the path. "Oh, then if you need anywhere at all, you're more than welcome to stay at my home! I'm Nana, by the way- Sawada Nana. It's not much, but it should easily stretch room for three more!"

It's a bit of a tight squeeze, as it turns out, and it's clearly being held together through perseverance and constant repairs. Reborn doesn't say anything about that, and neither do his sons. In fact, Dino says, "Is there anything we can help with? To repay you."

"No," is the immediate answer, although Nana's voice is in no way harsh or sharp. Instead, she seems quite prideful as she takes the baskets from Tsuna to set in a corner. "You're guests! It wouldn't be right for me to make you do work when I've offered you shelter. Then it would seem as if it's only for my own selfishness that I've invited you, and that's not right." Turning around, she taps Tsuna on the nose and smiles. "Remember that!"

Tsuna's eyes cross at the sudden tap, and Dino huffs out a laugh while Reborn settles comfortably on the ground by the fire pit. "If you say so," his oldest responds. "But be sure to let us know if anything comes up."

"Oh, of course!" Yet it doesn't look as if Nana will tell either of them anything anytime soon as she quietly stokes the embers before turning away. As with so many people in this little place, fish make up the easiest food to get, or at least the most plentiful. Yet the pile she has set to the side, each fish wrapped in leaves, isn't a particularly impressive one. Perhaps she hasn't had much luck. Perhaps so many people fish that it's hard to find a good spot. It could be any number of reasons, all of them twisting together to put her on the wrong side of luck. Reborn knows well enough how that goes.

A flare of light from the side catches her attention, and Reborn glances over to the fire pit once more. Tsuna is already recoiling from it, crouched where he is. Light burns and writhes underneath his thin skin, from fingertip to wrist, and he hides it hastily underneath himself as Nana turns around. "Oh!" she explains, pleasantly delighted at how the embers from her simple little pit have suddenly become a strong blaze for her. Grinning, she starts to set the fish up to cook. "Light must have looked kindly on me," she laughs. Reborn laughs with her, and not only because Dino has to plaster the most awkward grin on his face.

A god is certainly to thank for her luck in flames, but it's not the one she thinks.

For all that her home itself lacks, Nana makes up tenfold as she energetically talks to the three of them. If words were food, surely she'd have been able to keep the entire village afloat for decades. She's pleasant enough as well, Reborn finds. While she shares what is possibly every single detail about the village and its surrounding areas, she's also certain to inquire about the three of them as well. "Do they not have a father?" she leans over to ask in a concerned whisper as Dino and Tsuna laugh with each other. Reborn has to bit back her own snicker. "Traveling with only your two sons..."

"We do well enough," Reborn promises, a smirk on her face. "But what about you? Do you live on your own?"

Immediately, her worry blossoms into something proud, and she curls her fingers along her cheek. "Oh, I have someone!" she says, as giddy as a young girl with her first love. "But he travels, you know. Goes to other towns and villages, always bringing me things whenever he comes back."

They must not be much, Reborn reflects as she glances over the modest dwelling once more. "Seems a little lonely," she comments.

All that glow that had been there starts to fade away, and Nana busies herself with cleaning up things. "I have the rest of the town," she promises Reborn. "Everyone is very kind!" That sounds questionable, considering the not-so-friendly person they went to see not an hour ago, but Reborn doesn't call her out on the lie. Partially because she doesn't have a chance to, since Nana keeps right on chatting. "You know, my Iemitsu hunts with a bow! He's really quite good."

Reborn has noticed the bow propped up in the corner. She's also noticed that it hasn't been touched in quite a while. Yet that doesn't seem to bother Nana at all as she keeps cheerfully telling stories about her lover and how skilled a hunter he is. Conversation keeps all of them up well into the night, until finally the fire has to be extinguished properly so that she can go to sleep. "I have to get up early tomorrow," she explains, almost apologetic. "Fish come up with the sun, you know." Still, she gives them thick hide and fur blankets before fading off to sleep herself.

Sleep isn't a thing any of them really _need_ , of course, and it's sort of a moot point as well as far as Reborn can tell. Perhaps it's different for young gods, still so new to existence and their understanding. Yet for her who, even bound, can see and feel and taste every chaotic instance that happens? _Is_ that chaotic instance?

Yeah.

In a corner of the home, Dino is sprawled out with his hands tucked behind his head. For the time being, he seems to be doing a good enough mimic of sleep, his eyes closed and his breath easy. Somehow, Tsuna ends up partially out the entranceway with his hand laying out in the street. When Reborn checks, a few wayward felines of all sorts have gathered by it. Some nap, others groom, but they're all close by.

Maybe she was wrong about Tsuna not being some sort of nature god.

Reborn doesn't let them relax for long. Before the sun can quite warm up the sky, she lazily kicks at Dino's legs and goes to step on Tsuna's stomach a little. Dino gets up smoothly; Tsuna jerks and flails. He might _actually_ have been sleeping. That's a bit strange, but Reborn doesn't dwell on it much. All she does is go to grab the bow that's been left abandoned in the corner. "Come on," she says simply. "There's something we need to do."

"I was _sleeping_ ," Tsuna complains quietly as they all slip out from the home, rubbing at his eyes. Helpfully, Dino smacks him hard against the back to wake him up a little more, and the younger god almost goes falling face first before finding his balance again. "What are we doing?"

"Repaying a favor." Reborn pauses after circling the little home. Nana has some land of her own, although for different reasons than a certain other. Unlike being close to the water, no doubt to where all the best fishing can be done and sooner, she's on the outskirts. The forest is closer to her than anything, along with all the little beasts that might not take kindly to humans being near. Pointedly, she looks over to Dino. That's all the prompting her eldest needs before he starts toeing the dirt and grass with his foot, and occasionally he crouches down to sink his fingers into the earth. Even if early morning dew hadn't made everything soft and moist, he could do such easily.

After a little bit of this, with Tsuna trailing after him puzzled, Dino straightens up and dusts off his hands. "I can think of a few crops that would do well here," he says confidently, well within his realm. "It'd only take a moment to get some, encourage the ground a little bit to be kind."

Even if it was the worst kind of ground, hard and stubborn, Dino could make it sweet. Still, that it's easy certainly saves them time. Lazily, Reborn swipes the bow at him and watches both of her sons nearly trip over themselves to duck- Tsuna actually falls backwards. "Then go get them," Reborn says. "No, Tsuna- you stay here."

While Dino disappears to go gather the seeds he wants, Tsuna gets uncertainly to his feet. "The seeds aren't enough?" he asks.

"Of course not." Lightly tapping him at the side of the head with the bow, Reborn turns away to have him follow her. "There's one more thing we ought to get."

An Arcobaleno and a god can easily just appear wherever they like. However, Reborn is in no rush as dawn creeps through the sky. She takes the long way around, occasionally smacking Tsuna in the side or arm whenever it looks like he's lagging. There's no one in the woods on the other side of the lake when they finally get there. No humans, at least. As night birds tuck themselves away in holes and among leaves, others are flitting from branches to get their meals and skimming along the lake surface before humans can take all the fish. Other animals lurk, too. Reborn ignores slender does and their offspring, eyes the larger stags, but eventually she finds a much nicer prize.

It's a boar: enormous, thick, with long tusks that would make a fine trinket or weapon for anyone. In the dark shadows of dawn, it's a threatening mass with no detail to it, and everything on the ground takes care not to get in its way. Of all the animals that have formed and survived to this moment, Reborn has found boars to be among the most sturdy.

She adjusts the bow in one hand. With the other, she extends her palm to Tsuna. "Get me a twig," she orders simply with her eyes focused on the boar. "Straight and long as you can get it. Nothing else matters."

It takes a few minutes, and lots of stumbling, but soon enough Tsuna holds out a good handful of them. Reborn casts a sharp glance over the selection before drawing one out. This should do well enough, although, with how many Tsuna got for her, there was bound to be at least _one_ success. "Remember," she murmurs quietly, drawing the stick back smoothly, "that gods and mortals are tightly bound. Even the wild god that Skull and Fon made allows them to pray in his name, and takes strength when they heed his demands and rely on his domain. Remember that whenever mortals do something for you, small or large."

"...What about you?"

"I'm not a god; I'm not obliged to do anything for _or_ against them beyond my own whims."

And Reborn lets the arrow fly.

Air billow around her as it shoots off, hair flapping in the sudden vicious guest of wind, and the arrow pierces the boars heart before it realizes what's going on. Well... Maybe calling it a "pierce" is understating it. The rudimentary arrow sends it flying with all the force of a giant spear. In that single weapon, there is the strength of an Arcobaleno in it, after all. Trees and branches shatter as it is taken through the air, until it's out of sight to normal eyes. Reborn, fortunately, is far from that. Closing her eyes, she can tell how it breaches the treeline, skims over the water... and crashes through the roof a certain large house en-route to its destination, a fact which draws a smirk to her face.

That wasn't intended, but it'll add to this lesson that she's imparting. That's fine.

Lowering the old bow, she looks over to Tsuna. His face has gone pale, and one hand is clutched to his chest as if to keep his heart where it belongs. Tsuna's skittishness is nothing new; the boy came into the world screaming. Still, is there something more to the alarm that fills his wide eyes as he stares at the path that the boar's corpse has carved out? Either way, Reborn snaps her fingers pointedly. "Go back to being unseen to mortal eyes," she tells him. "Let's see if Dino has returned."

He has, of course, and he's standing over the boar's corpse right where it's landed near to Nana's house. The village is abuzz as they try to figure out what's happened, but no one has seen to go near the forest. After all, it's the roof of the house near the lake that's damaged. Reborn can already hear the owner's outrage even from where she is. Her look of amusement has Dino sag in exasperation.

"I wasn't even gone that long," he says. "Was that really necessary?"

"I'm giving Nana as much help as she did to us," she says idly. "Now hurry and put the seeds in the ground and the boar in her house. We need to get going."

Tsuna is crouched over by the boar, expression mingled disgust and sympathy, but he looks up at that. "Where are we going?"

"To another village, of course."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** RE: Reborn and Gender- this whole thing is partially a nod to his constant costume nonsense in canon (where he readily dresses in a distinctly feminine role with no hesitation). However, in this AU, most of the Arcobaeno have similar relations with gender. While most of them tend to have a preference in how they present and refer to themselves (the Creation Trinity settled pretty quickly into being women), they could also go another way and not really be too bothered in any way by it. Reborn is a bit different in that he switches around regularly just because, while the others don't really bother.

The exception to any of this is Mammon, who is completely nonbinary and only changes their physical appearance to suit their current desires, whatever those might be at the time.


	3. Wildfire

This is what he knows about Tsuna thus far:

Dogs don't seem to like him. There isn't a place on earth where cats won't congregate around his presence. Some of the ones that do are bigger than he is. At any given time, his feet are liable to trip over themselves. He gets startled and scared by anyone who looks particularly threatening, despite the fact that he is a _god_ and could scorch literal towns off of the map if he wanted. He can't swim.

This is what he doesn't know about Tsuna:

His domain.

It's a fascinating mystery, if Reborn is honest. Dino only needed a short while to become himself; Kyoya Hibari leapt into it without hesitation all on his own. Yet Tsuna is turning out to be an _incredibly_ slow start by comparison. As they hop from village to village, playing out the same little trick with only slight adjustments to the length they stay or the things they do or if Reborn is a man, he tries to figure out the young god. He wants to say that Tsuna is more at home around humans, but sometimes he's not sure.

Really, it'd be easier if the boy wasn't so soft hearted. If something is hurt and is in Tsuna's line of sight, that's it. He'll fuss over the very idea of it when they're five towns over, or he'll convince Dino to help him care for whatever has caught his attention. Sometimes it's a person, sometimes it's an animal. Either way, Tsuna can't seem to let it go. There's no _focus_ to him. If it weren't for the rare occurrences where fire sparks in his presence or lights up underneath his skin, Reborn might give up.

...Alright, ha, no he wouldn't. If anything, he thinks that would just make him all the more intrigued.

Still, they've gone all over the world, from hot desserts to cold mountains, and Reborn thinks they might have to change up how they're doing this. Right now, that means traveling on foot instead of taking the easy way out, occasionally starting up a little fire to sit at once night falls.

They don't _need_ it, of course, much like they don't need sleep or other things. Still, Reborn reflects as he lazily stretches his legs out, it's a pleasant enough sensation. Across from him, Dino sits crosslegged, and occasionally he prods at the fire to keep it nice and bright. Tsuna is between them and, even as Reborn watches, his eyes stay on the fire warily. Funny, for someone who was born of it. "We're near Nana's village now, right?" Dino asks curiously, and smiles a little bit as Tsuna perks up. It's no surprise that he remembers her name; Dino seems to remember everyone. "It's been a while, for human years. I wonder if she'll remember us."

"I don't see why not," Reborn responses, biting back some strange twitchy urges. In the last few days they've been traveling, something uncomfortable has been twisting in his chest. All he can do is ignore it, as he does so now. "She seems to be that kind of woman."

"She's good," Tsuna says abruptly, a yawn dragging out the end of his words. "Even with only a little, she carries a lot of things... Burning..." Another yawn, and his head droops. Amazing how he can have the insight of a god, looking into other people with only a glance, but is still the sleepiest person Reborn thinks he's ever seen. Maybe he's introduced this kid to a bad habit.

A worse habit would probably be pitching over face first into their campfire. Sighing, Reborn reaches over to flick the boy's ear. "Wake up," he says, watching Tsuna jolt. "If you're going to fall asleep, do it against something."

Tsuna groans, dragging his hands down his face and pulling at his skin a little. "I can't help it," he grumbles, shaking his head. His hair flops every which way with the movement. "I'm just _tired_. Why do we have to keep walking around so much? We've just appeared in places before, and we know where the town is. That's probably why I'm exhausted."

None too subtly, Reborn glances across at Dino, who is in perfectly fine health and energy as when they first started. He wants to say that Tsuna is wrong, because gods are made of sterner stuff than that... But who knows? Maybe he is. This is the first time a god has taken so long to find his calling. Maybe there's a price to be paid for that much time taken. Or maybe that has nothing to do with it at all, and Tsuna is simply flat out wrong. Reborn can't say he's been feeling alright himself. Perhaps Dino has been as well, and merely stayed quiet about it.

Like father, like son, and all that.

Regardless, it's clear that Tsuna will fall asleep on the floor if they let him. Shaking his head, Reborn tugs his youngest closer towards him. There's a little bit of flailing, proving Tsuna is at least _that_ awake, but he sinks against Reborn's side all too easily in the end with another yawn. That doesn't seem to stop him from courting the campfire they have going, however. His legs sprawl out dangerously close to it, enough for the fire to reach out as if to brush fondly against a foot or leg. Perhaps even if the young god was a whole tree's length away, it would still long for him.

Reborn thinks he can understand that.

The fire calls to him, too. Lazily, with Tsuna slumped against him and his arm behind the young god, Reborn watches the flames, quietly enraptured. There's no predictability to the way they twitch and arch through the air. Even the interference of a wayward breeze only controls the direction, not the way that it burns. The longer he watches, the more something in his stomach starts to match its rhythm- its erratic flickering. Tsuna being at his side just makes it worse, brighter, like kindling.

Once upon a time, not even that long ago, _he_ was like that, too. Warping, flickering, unpredictable, all consuming and bright. The dark garments he wears now, how much do they really suit him? The churning in his stomach coils all the harder. He knows the answer, of course. Plainly put, this isn't how he's meant to be- which he supposes is the point.

The fire dances before him, twisting in the air and in his mind, and Reborn can't help but wonder... Is this how Dino is supposed to be? Is this how _Tsuna_ is supposed to be? What is a god in the end?

He knows what the Arcobaleno are. He knows what _he_ is.

Leaves, dust, tiny little bits of debris, all of it light enough to be stolen away on the wind where they are jerked one way then another with no rhyme or reason.

Prey animals, their throats caught in the unrelenting jaws of something luckier than they, but not those exactly. Rather, the feelings that rattle through them, anger and fear and panic, legs lashing out blindly, randomly.

Fire.

Chaos.

But what is a god?

Dino is not, cannot be, the horses that stampede through the plains nor can he be hard hands at steady work. Likewise, Tsuna can't be whatever it is that calls to him. So what _are_ they? Are they really meant to take forms as they do, warm eyes and worn feet? Or was it a mistake to let Her dust away their flames for all that both of them are Hers as much as his?

Quietly crackling, the campfire swells.

Perhaps that is what gods are. Tsuna had been nothing but quiet embers and desperate flames, crawling along his arm. No, more than that- perhaps he had been a part of _him_ before all else. And if he is restricted, trapped, forced into this form that does not suit him, then-

A whip cracks through the air.

Reborn freezes in place, only now becoming aware of how hard his breath has become or the chill which has overtaken his skin. Past the campfire, Dino has his whip out and wrapped around the younger brother now in his arms- snapped out from Reborn's grasp faster than light. Tension makes the air still between them as their eyes meet.

Both of them know what he was about to do.

In Dino's arms, Tsuna belatedly stirs, blinking up at Dino. "What's going on?" Hastily, his brother tucks his face against his shoulder, keeping his eyes away from Reborn.

Contrasting his actions, his voice is falsely relaxed and jovial. "Hey, Tsuna, why don't we play a game or something? We can see if we're near enough to Nana's village to see the torches they light at night. Maybe that will help wake you up a little." He doesn't bother to wait for a response. Dino only turns away, quickly carrying Tsuna off into the woods. As he does so, his hand never leaves his whip... and his gaze never leaves Reborn.

Right now, he can't blame him.

He stays perfectly still until every trace of Dino is out of immediate sight- well, still save for the way his body shakes violently with every breath he takes. Reborn doesn't need to see his reflection to know how his form has warped, twisted, or how his maw is unhinged and gaping. Arcobaleno, gods, mortals... All of them are reflections of one another.

But the Arcobaleno are the source. And, as with so many things that are the origin, they are more twisted and strange at their depths.

Twisted like the way his fingers are just long enough to not be right, not be natural. Strange in how he knows his eyes now pits within his face, black engulfing the whites until there's nothing but holes. His tongue is too thin, now, and his jaw is too far from his skull. Dislocated. Disjointed. Ready to part and devour and...

The knowledge of what he'd been about to do makes his stomach nearly collapse into itself. So much so that he's almost amazed that his form hasn't warped to match it, but no. When he looks down, his body is as much the same as ever. No collapse. That doesn't stop him from feeling any less revolted with himself.

It's hard to say when Dino finally returns, although Reborn knows it can't truly have been that long. Not when they're such ageless creatures where decades can pass in the blink of an eye. That doesn't mean the moments _drag_ , heavy and slow, before he picks up on the sound of footsteps and brush being pushed aside. "I left him in the village," Dino announces, voice careful and calm. "Nana still lives there, so he should be occupied." Looking up, moving his head just the bare minimum from how he's been curled into himself, Reborn's gaze goes to the whip still in Dino's hand. His thumb is rubbing at the handle, quiet but constant.

Another deep trembling breath, and Reborn thinks his fingers might be a common length, now. "So he didn't see anything?" he asks, cutting to the chase.

Dino's lips thin a little, although he shakes his head in the end. "I don't think he even realized what you were starting to do. He didn't show it, anyway, and I don't think he knows how to hide that kind of thing just yet." Reborn doesn't have a chance to say anything in response before his eldest forges on. "Is it coming undone?"

Slowly, Reborn reaches up, and presses his hand against the dark material still wrapped around his shoulders. There's no real need to. He knows the answer. Its presence underneath his fingertips is still a reassurance of its own. "No," he says, voice grittier than if he'd swallowed sand. "It's still there."

"Then _what happened_?" Dino's voice strains from his worry, his aggravation, even with how much he's clearly holding himself back. His thumb is pressing harder against his whip, motionless for now, but his restraint isn't enough to keep from grinding right against Reborn's own patience.

"I _don't know_ ," he snaps, voice sharp and cold. No sooner than the words have left his mouth does he regret them- regret the lack of control. Tense silence hangs between, blocking them, and Reborn pulls in a slow breath between his teeth. "I don't know," he tries again, voice more level. At the edge of the trees, Dino's tense shoulders gradually ease up. "For the past while, something has been off but it's not within me- any part of me." Not 'Reborn', not Chaos, and yet he knows there is _something_...

Grass swishes against Dino's boots, announcing him even before he cautiously settles near to Reborn. The campfire is smaller, now. "Do you want to go back to your place...?"

His place. That long, wide room with its too smooth surfaces and shining columns, white and black and bare. It would be a wise choice, probably. After he was wrapped up and bound, it's where he went to recuperate. Yet the very idea has him knead his fingers into his palm, leaving dark crescent marks. If he has to be in that place for any longer-

All his frustration must be embarrassingly obvious. "I'll look after Tsuna," Dino says, wary and tired. "If you want, maybe you can-"

An explosion rocks the earth.

Immediately, Dino scrambles to his feet. A light blares from between the trees, brightens the once dark sky. Where it fades, the clouds become painted in gory reds and breathtaking golds... all of it from one direction in particular. Before his eldest can react, Reborn gets to his feet and strides forward. Behind him, there's the sound of a whip uncurling. "Reborn!"

He doesn't give him a chance to say or do anything else. "Tsuna," he says simply, sharply, and he almost sees the realization in his son's eyes before disappearing into the shadows.

The blaze is coming from Nana's village.

As he steps out from the shadows on the forest line, there's only a momentary sense of deja vu. This, he thinks, was the very first place that he looked out onto the village. This is where Dino and Tsuna both stood behind him, not understanding what he planned to do. In an instant, however, the moment passes, and that sickly coiling feeling wracks him again. His hand digs into a tree, and he raises the other to his mouth as if that will help anything. The essence of himself doesn't need an opening; it can split one apart. He fights against it, only able to drag his eyes upwards and lay them upon the village.

Despite the spectacle... It's not as bad as he thought it would be. That is to say, the village is at least _still standing_. It might not be for long. Fire has claimed a portion of it, an angrier red than most is, and its people are scattered in panic. Past all the screaming, the crying, the crackle of flames, he thinks he can hear the sound of violence.

Besides him, Dino appears- not from shadows, but from the blaring yellow light that the flames have cast all the way to the trees. Fire of his own curls at the edges of his being and a swear falls from his lips- surely one that he's learned from the mortals under his care. "I couldn't have been gone long," he hisses, teeth bared. "What-" His gaze jerks to Reborn before he can finish his sentence, and he reaches over to him. "What's wrong? Come on, we need to get you away from here."

Away, from mortals and Tsuna. Reborn isn't oblivious. He knows where his eldest's priorities lie. The thing is, he can't even hate him for it.

He takes in a sharp breath, air burning all the way down his throat with the nearby heat, but he doesn't get a chance to respond. Nearest to them, some of the fire swells and twists before _hopping_ away from the rest. Agile and quick, it leaps from one home to the next, leaving destruction in its wake. It stops right outside the village, right before them. Well aware of its audidnece, it starts to shift and warp until there's a figure standing there.

They're not touching. In fact, there's a good long distance still between the forest, farther than Dino's whip. Yet it doesn't matter. Beneath Reborn's skin, he _burns_.

"Well well!" says the figure, muscular body still forming and a lazy loose mohawk still blazing against her skull. "So this was what was tapping at the back of my head for so long! But isn't there something a little _off_ about this?"

Both of them knows what she's talking about. The difference between him, wrapped tight in his consequences, and her, only half together and all indulgence.

Bent over, hand digging at his chest, Reborn can't spare a breath to counter her. Instead, Dino steps in front of him with his whip stretched tight between both hands. Judging by his voice, his smile is just as tense. "Isn't it a little rude to just waltz up without introductions? We're a little busy right now."

"Oh, I'm sure you can spend a little time to entertain me, since all my dear friends are just as much as you." Song laces her voice as she shifts her stance, raising one leg up in preparation. "But you may call me Lussuria." 

* * *

His face hits the dirt, and Tsuna wheezes.

Everything is so _sore_. It's not only how his bruised ribs ache from where a foot had planted solidly into them. It's not the rough scrapes along his palms. Somehow, the throbbing goes in deeper. He can't explain it. How could he? That the villager's burning lungs are his, too, and that his bones might as well be the buildings that are quickly becoming ravaged. At the same time, he is that fire, that smoke.

All of it is a confusing chaotic mess within his head that he doesn't have time to dwell on. Desperately, as he has many times so far since the intruders came to the village, he scrambles to his feet and looks fearfully at the one responsible.

" _You're_ a god?" There's a cruelness to the way he laughs, face warping with his reckless grin, and Tsuna shudders. He has always been small, not able to come to his father or brother's shoulders. Yet it is one thing to be small and another to _feel_ it. When the man with the swept back black hair and churning storm red eyes looks at him, he feels it harder than he's ever felt before. "What a joke."

Honestly, Tsuna has thought that plenty himself the longer time has passed with him having _no idea_ of what to do. He doesn't need someone else to tell him. Wiping the dirt away from his mouth hastily, he takes a tentative step back. This is scarier than Reborn smacking him upside the head, scarier than watching predators stalk amongst the trees. Those, he understands. This guy... "What, does that mean you aren't?" he asks, bewildered as to what else he _could_ be. Not god, not Arcobaleno-

Wrong question to ask. In a snap, that vicious smile disappears, and Tsuna takes another hasty step back at those eyes burn all the brighter. Before he can even ask what's _wrong_ , the other does the exact same thing he'd done when him and his companions had shot down straight into the middle of the village: he bursts forward at Tsuna and his fist cushions straight into the young god's chest. All the air escapes him in one big wheeze, leaving him to crumple onto the ground. Instinctively, Tsuna curls up into a tight a ball as he can manage. It's a weak attempt, and the other's following kicks hurt just as much as if Tsuna hadn't tried at all.

"I'm _better_ than scum like you," he growls, the low rumble of his voice penetrating past the sounds of his kicks. "Relying so much on weaklings looking to you for anything- it's _pathetic_."

In Tsuna's stomach, something hot sparks. It's not pain, or something piercing through, but... It's hot. As if the fires still burning around them have leapt into the very pit of his stomach, that kind of hot.

It doesn't hurt.

A scream somewhere in the distance goes off, a despairing sort of wail, and the other man stops for just a moment at the sound of it. Moving on instinct, Tsuna rolls away, scrambling to his feet at the same time. All he wants is to get some distance between them, just enough to plead or talk or- anything. He doesn't know. He can't even get that, however, before another punch sends him flying through what was once a home. Fire licks at him as he crashes to the other side. Dazed, he stares up at the sky- blocked with smoke and sickly crimson.

This isn't right. This _hurts_. And, worst of all... There's nothing he can do.

As he lays there, feeling sorry for himself, that broad figure steps through the ruins that were once a wall. Smoke billows around him- no. As he comes closer, Tsuna can see that it's not just a part of the fire. It's part of _him_ , smoldering out from patches of his skin and curling through his hair. Still breathing heavily, Tsuna starts to push himself up onto his elbows. While he struggles, the other speaks. "Remember this: I am _Xanxus_. We're going to wipe weak gods such as you from existence."

Can that even happen to a god? Can a god die? Tsuna isn't sure, it's not a question that has ever come up, but he doesn't want to find out now. Muscles screaming with exertion, he forces himself up onto his feet, ready to do... something. He has no idea what. Dino has his whip, guidance and threat. Reborn has, honestly, whatever is on hand; it has not escaped Tsuna that the Arcobaleno could could decimate a village with a single pebble. All Tsuna has as he sways in place are his own hands. They rise up in front of him, feeble fists held close together in a mimic of the prayer he's seen mortals so often do, shaking. His fists and his legs tremble together, and Xanxus only sneers harder as he raises up one hand-

A yell sounds off, so much closer than the terrified cries of the escaping villagers, and both of them look to the side almost at the same moment.

It's a woman, deep brown skin, long black hair, shoving against wreckage with her shoulder so that she can drag some poor unfortunate out from it. As she turns, Tsuna can see soot warped beneath one eye. Reborn has dragged him to see so many humans that he's pretty sure he's seen a good chunk of the range they're capable of... but this kind of selfless valor is rare. Worthy of being treasured.

He doesn't see agreement in Xanxus' face when he turns to look. Dismissal, disgust, whatever it is curls at his lips in displeasure, and worse makes his eyes glow hot. Slowly, he raises up one hand in the direction of the two and his fingers clench. Around them, the fire twists. Tsuna doesn't know what he's doing, what he's about to do-

But it doesn't matter.

Tsuna moves before he thinks, jolting forward to wrap his fingers around Xanxus' wrist. "Wait! You can't- !"

A fist slams right into his forehead.

For not the first time, Tsuna goes flying through the air and crashes against the ground. His vision swims, making the world nothing but a scramble of heat and light. Something wet and hot gathers, drips, against his forehead. Is he bleeding? Did that actually cut him? At the same time that it hurts, a certain kind of nonsensical relief bubbles upwards. Blearily, swaying every time he tries to get up, he rolls onto his side so that he can raise his head at least a little.

Xanxus has gone back to completely ignoring him, now that he's out of the way. Instead, perhaps more incensed than ever before, he's storming to the two women. Horror clogs in Tsuna's throat; he's going to murder them not by fire but by his own hands. He is going to snuff their lives out, and it's- it's not _fair_. It's not fair! They're human, they're thin skinned and slow and _mortal_. They're mortal, and Xanxus, whatever he may be... He's not.

More heat is pouring from the wound in Tsuna's forehead, but he doesn't notice.

There are prayers in his ear. He is halfway across the village with the force Xanxus had hit him with, head ringing, the inferno crackling hard about him, and the two women that Xanxus are approaching- he can hear their voices. They aren't speaking, but he can regardless as well as if they were all standing side by side. Tsuna doesn't know how, or when, only that the feeling is suddenly reality. He is right before the two mortals, their prayers at his back and Xanxus' fist coming towards his face once more. For a split second, he can see the other man's eyes widen in surprise, but he doesn't stop his attack. Then again, he doesn't need to.

Tsuna's hand barely fits around Xanxus' fist. That doesn't matter, either. All that matters is that his hand, no matter how small, is enough to stop the larger man in his tracks. Xanxus' face warps at the insolence, at the impossibility, and Tsuna ignores that, too. Everything is suddenly so _clear_. The world makes sense in a way he hadn't realized before. Had Dino felt this way, once? Seeing how all the strings connect and pull and hold...

At his back, the prayers continue.

The fire still burns. 

* * *

In the village, something like a thunder crack goes off, and Dino freezes. Fortunately, so does Lussuria, a whip wrapped around one leg and her still burning fingers wrapped around the whip. It's nowhere near the same resounding crash that no doubt announced the presence of Lussuria and whoever her companions were. That had been a bang- trees crashing in a storm, waves smashing against a cliff, a fist shattering a jaw. This... This is different. It rings in Reborn's ears, a sharp clap, and he looks away from the battle that's been going on before him.

He's just in time. Within the village, the fire that has been eating at it is no long raging but twisting strangely. No wind is rolling across the lake or battering at the trees. Nature can't be blamed for the way the fire is warped. The longer he watches, the clearer it is to see two figures flickering in and out amongst it. It's a complicated game, both of them darting and dodging the other. Soon, however, the smallest one bursts forward faster, size an advantage in such quick back and forths that it can duck under a countering attack. Another thunderous noise, and the large shape goes flying out of the city to crash onto the outskirts.

Looking upon it, Reborn is reminded faintly of what he used to be. There is barely any form to the creature down there, clouded in fire and smoke and rage. His eyes burn, and his bulk would be intimidating enough on a mortal. In contrast, Tsuna is still small as he hops down from the flames.

But he isn't any weaker than his opponent.

From his forehead, curling around his wild locks, a crown of flame burns. It is the same fire that bore him, that once decimated an entire forest because of a careless gesture, but it's not wild here. At least, it's no wilder than Tsuna's hair, and burns only as bright as his eyes. This wouldn't say much, if this was perhaps only weeks, days, minutes ago. Now, however, they are not quiet and dull brown. Now, they are the eyes Reborn saw once in the ruined ashes of a forest: the brilliant topaz of embers.

None of this takes away the fact that Tsuna has clearly had his face smashed into the dirt more than once, or that a trail of blood has dried along the bridge of his nose down to the corner of one mouth. Most noticeable of all, matching what is crackling about his hair, are the flames licking at his fingertips and pressing kisses against his knuckles. Every bit of skin that's touched, unlike his wreath of flames, is warped and burned. If he's noticed his own state, there's certainly no indication of it on Tsuna's own face. From simple scrapes to the ruined nature of his hands, it all as well might be the same to Tsuna as far as Reborn can tell. His youngest's eyes are't focused on himself. His quiet, calm expression is aimed right at his opponent.

Perhaps that stare is the reason why he's so enraged in turn, and only gets moreso as the longer Tsuna stares. "Bow your head, _scum_!" he snarls, smoke billowing out with the words from his mouth. Fire of his own snaps out through the air around him.

Tsuna heaves out a sigh, soft but heavy, and Reborn is inexplicably reminded of Yuni for a moment. "Xanxus," he murmurs, not angry despite the damage he's taken. Just... saddened, instead. That only feeds the rage more, and, in the blink of an eye, the two clash once again.

"Ooooh my," Lussuria says lowly, the whip now untangled from one leg, but she doesn't come after Dino again. Instead, she takes a hesitant step back, her eyes not leaving the battling pair. "I didn't think he'd get _this_ angry."

The lack of combat from her, at least, eases up the churning that has been going on in Reborn's chest since she first got near enough- nearer than when they first saw her. While the combat around Tsuna and Xanxus should make up for that, if not make it worse, Reborn is surprised that it's not so. Instead, as he watches the way the fire blurs from Tsuna with each duck and dodge...

A strange sense of stillness rests in a part of him.

Stranger still, it doesn't seem like something foreign. Reborn would have thought that sort of thing would be his antithesis, insufferable as watching his realm form all smooth lines- an untouched toy with no history, no change, no character. Dull. Plain. A trap with nothing to even gild it. Tsuna's steps and ducks are smooth, and he takes any blows he can't hide from with teeth grit simply. The feelings in Reborn's chest should be of agitation. So why aren't they?

As Tsuna side steps around Xanxus, the two of them spinning about in a violent smooth circle, he realizes why.

In the distance, he can see the fire changing. No longer is it consuming everything, leaving only ash. Instead, it's drawn to the fighters, leaping from house to house until it's spinning around both god and foe. Xanxus seems to devour it, fire disappearing into the smoke and causing it to swell all the more aggressively. Tsuna does no such thing. The fire only snaps at his feet, trails behind the movement of his arms as if a cloak. With all the smoke and flames, any other person would have a hard time keeping track of the fight. As more than a person, Reborn has no such troubles. He can see every exchange of fists, every twist of feet, every burning flare. He sees exactly when the two finally part for only a flicker of a moment, their hands drawn back before closed fists meet open hands and a whisper snakes between them.

Light bursts.

Even when they are all temporarily blinded, Reborn can hear the ringing in the air and in his ears. When things finally clear up, Tsuna and Xanxus have been flung from one another. Tsuna is slumped against the wall of a home that's barely standing. Across the way, struggling to pull himself up by the firm trunk of a tree, Xanxus heaves out smoke from between his teeth. No longer is he obscured by it. No longer does it billow quietly from the outlines of him or patches of skin and hair. Instead, red and sore, burn marks mar him. They're everywhere: curving across his cheek, trailing down the front of his throat. For someone so clearly full of pride, that alone would no doubt enrage him... Yet Reborn doesn't think his new scars are why he looks at Tsuna with such venom or why he forces himself up onto unsteady feet. Any words he tries to say are ash on his tongue, but that fearsome glare says all it needs to.

Even if he could stumble over to Tsuna, he doesn't get a chance to. Dino's whip snaps through the air, as good as any snarl, and Reborn's eldest is right there between them. His smile is all bared teeth, a facsimile of friendliness that's leaf thin. "I think that's more than enough of that," he says. "Don't you?"

Xanxus couldn't disagree any clearer with how he snarls, but it's not up to him in the end. Lussuria intervenes, a little less fire and a little more shape as she hooks one of his arms under her shoulder. "Oh, if only Squalo was here," she mutters, before dragging him away, their bodies twisting until they're gone right in thin air. The grass smolders where their feet once were.

With Lussuria gone from the immediate area (yet still out there, still a presence, still affecting his sprawling sense of self), Reborn lets out a breath. Something about that one set off every bit of him, trapped inside the straining bonds of void. There's an itching underneath his skin, popping bursts of heat, but he can ignore it a little better now. It's nothing unusual, after all. He's been feeling that since the very first moment the void settled around his shoulders, confining him to form. With that settled, he slowly makes his way over to where Dino is crouched besides Tsuna.

The brilliant burning crown is no longer. Instead, there's just a small sprout of fire from the center of his forehead, flickering harmlessly around the strands of his hair. His eyes are half lidded, distant but unmistakably brilliant. When Dino lightly shakes his shoulder, Tsuna's gaze is slow to rise up. "They're _everywhere_ ," he says quietly, voice soft and full of awe. "The talking never stops."

Talking? Prayers, perhaps. "Who's talking?" Reborn asks, the question that has been floating around all of their heads ever since Tsuna was first made. What domain would this little god hear? Yet he already has a suspicion, even before Tsuna redirects that same warm stare up at him.

"Everyone?" he says, voice tinged with a question as if even he can't believe himself. His hands are no longer set completely ablaze, but that doesn't mean they're back to normal. Instead, they're darkened and twisted, used up tinder, and ember light still glows all over from within his skin. Tsuna doesn't let this stop him, pushing himself unsteadily up onto his feet with Dino's help. "I'm supposed to do something..."

"What do you need to do?" Reborn asks, shooing Dino's hands off of Tsuna's shoulders. Sometimes, you have to let the fire burn instead of bothering with it. The style of teaching clearly comes through for him. Without much prompting, Tsuna starts to wobble right off without any explanation. With each step, his stride becomes a little more certain and steady, and Reborn can see why off in the distance: at least a good chunk of the villagers, huddled together and passing information between one another hastily. There's no general composition to the group. There are the young, and the elderly, but there are perfectly healthy adults there, too. The only thing that they all have in common is that they're watching the way their village still softly glows from leftover heat. Smaller flames have still been abandoned in places, and they only grow stronger as time passes.

Tsuna doesn't look at any of it. His eyes are only for the people huddled together. Pausing at the edge of the group, he leans down slightly just enough to brush his fingers against the crown of one person's head. It's a young man with olive skin, long black hair, and, now, thanks to Tsuna's touch, embers softly clinging to his head like resting fireflies.

Something lights up in the young man's eyes, brighter than the fires but just as bright as the embers, and he gets up to his feet... but Tsuna is already moving on by then. Again and again, he touches people- everyone in fact. Some get to their feet, like the young man, and immediately begin to take action. There's a girl organizing people to the water, an elder comforting crying children, people moving in unity and strength. Others stay on the ground. Mostly children, of course, but there are others who Reborn can tell are weak or sick. It's only when the spread of embers is dusted against every single mortal does Tsuna suddenly vanish from their midsts, right to the edge of the ruined village.

To say that Tsuna isn't the same person would be a mistake. Reborn made him, once. There's a lot to still learn about him, but he knows his youngest and newest son at his core. An ember is a fire is an inferno. So is the same for Tsuna, even as he steps into what is still standing of the village.

Behind him, unseeing but feeling, the mortals follow him.

Only moments ago, they'd all been weak and crying, unable to do much more. As Reborn watches now, even with their home in ruins and not much on hand, they work against the corner they've been driven into. They only have themselves and a disaster; it doesn't stop them. It doesn't stop Tsuna. Turning on his heel, Reborn leaves Dino where he is, and steps through the night's darkness into the uneasy shadows of the village. As he does so, there's an unexpected surprise in its depths. _Meowing_ surrounds him, and he raises an eyebrow as cats- now pitch black with soot and ash no matter their original color- scurry about. It doesn't take long at all for the mortals to find them... or the people who had been trapped or lost that the feline cries call attention to.

He has approximately zero surprise when, with their jobs done, each cat starts to trail after Tsuna's presence, dark and quiet and satisfied. No matter how many times his hands pass over them, or that of an absentminded mortal, the blackness of their fur stays stubbornly on. The fire which had burned through had not been a regular one, after all. Neither is the soot, or the dedication of the cats.

Reborn waits right in the center of the ruined village as Tsuna zigs and twists through the whole thing. Inevitably, the young god must come this way, and he's right. He's practically sleepwalking by the time he makes it to where Reborn is waiting for him, eyes only slivers of amber beneath heavy eyelids. Behind him, nearly tripping over cats even as she carries an armful of kittens, Nana is making reassuring noises down at all of them. "There, there... We'll be alright." Soot and scrapes and burns cover her arms beneath her sleeves, but she still smiles down at them. "It's only things. We can rebuild."

There are no embers in her hair, but Tsuna trails around after her anyway, all around the perimeter of the village center. Reborn isn't sure if he's actually aware of what he's doing. His gaze is still tired and distan, and Reborn has to reach over and snag him when he passes by close enough. "Tsuna," he says simply, watching the boy god blink up at him.

He didn't ask, but Tsuna tells him anyway. "She was both at the same time," he says, and actually yawns. He seems properly exhausted instead of merely dozing. "All the others were just the one, but she was still both. She didn't need me, not really."

With the way he's swaying, he's going to faceplant at any moment, probably. Best to get him to talk while he's still conscious. "Both what?"

Slowly, Tsuna's gaze drags up to Reborn's own face, and his burning eyes are something Reborn has seen in many places, from the sun to himself. They're a deep stare, one that sees a great deal. "Weak," he says, quietly. "But, strong, too." His hands rise up, fingers spreading to show the extent of what he's talking about. Embers pop beneath charred skin. "Weak things can always be strong... And strong things can always go back to being weak." His eyes stare right at Reborn.

Reborn lightly bops him right in the forehead with his fist.

"Ow-"

"Of course I know that," he says, watching as fire flicks around the curve of his fist, still pressed against skin and hair. "Obviously." Slowly, he relaxes his hand until he can spread his fingers out through Tsuna's hair. Since the time he first started fighting up until now, where he's been tending to desperate prayers, his hair has started to lose its wildness. Yet it only takes the slightest brush of Reborn's fingers for it to fluff up again. Without thinking, he sinks his fingers in deeper, and gives it a good ruffle. "You learned, Tsuna. Good."

It's rather brisk praise, but that's fine. Tsuna murmurs something in recognition that it's happened, and then his legs start to go out from beneath him. Reborn doesn't try to catch him. There's no need to. Dino suddenly steps out and hooks his arm around his little brother's middle. "What a flashy way to figure out his domain," he grunts, hefting Tsuna up into his arms. "But I guess that explains why nothing else was quite working. It's a domain even wider than mine."

Not only a wide domain, but one that relies on two extremes... Reborn nods, thoughtfully, and glances back to the village. Everyone in it has been imbued with strength, now, and they willfully ride out the tides of chaos that Xanxus and Lussuria's actions brought. Like birds on stormy winds, or fish in turbulent waters.

So this is what his youngest can do.

"Dino," he says, and his eldest son looks up at him. "I think we're done. Watch over Tsuna."

He quirks up an eyebrow. "I can do that, but where are you going?"

Reborn is already turning on his heel. There's not even a pause as he answers over his shoulder. "I need to see a few old friends."

And he disappears through the shadows.


	4. Depth

To step into Loyalty is to be weighed down.

It's in the water that laps at his legs, weight to cloth, an anchor that holds them down. It's in the sky, bloated clouds blanketing all signs of a sun or what time of day it is. Or perhaps it's only in Reborn _himself_ , the expanse of ocean a reminder of the bindings he wears that are exactly as deep.

Not all of it is water. Obviously not, considering there is something beneath his feet. A forest of coral thrives under the water's surface, pulsing with life. Reborn is certain that if he went deeper, that's where he would find Lal Mirch and Colonello, as deeply entwined as coral and sea. Yet he doesn't step between the gaps, doesn't dive into the depths. Instead, patiently, he stays where he is on only the most surface level of their realm, their home, their self.

Waiting doesn't take long. Before him, the water parts around a familiar form, and Lal's hands press down into the coral as she hauls herself up onto the surface. Her lips part, only slightly, releasing a slow exhale that whistles sharply through the air. Whether it's habit or if she's aggravated to see him, only time will tell. In the meantime, Reborn's eyes roam over her. Fon favors his red robes. Mammon drapes themself in shadows. Their most beloved prefers impossible white for Her wear. Lal Mirch, in contrast, has shed most clothing, at least here in her and Colonello's own realm. Her body is bare, water following the curves of her muscles that are in plain sight and causing her broad shoulders to shine with sea slickness. There's only two articles of clothing on her entire body. The first is a simple pale bandanna tied around her throat, her dark hair clinging to it as much as it clings to her back and neck. The second is a waistcloth, any color long since washed away, tied sturdily to her hip with thin but dependable rope. As she straightens up, throwing her hair back, a dull piece of metal masquerading as a knife bangs against her thigh. With how her fingers twitch by it, he ponders how much she's considered embedding it in his throat.

"Lal Mirch," he says calmly, by way of greeting.

She doesn't return the favor. Instead, with all the grace he's not sure he could manage in such conditions, she strides forward straight to him with water surging around her legs. Only when she's a scarce few inches from his person does she stop, her eyes bright and critical. "What are you here for?" she asks bluntly, no dancing around the issue. One would think that a regular person would be a little more wary, confronting another that has harmed them. The scars are still vivid against her flesh, staying in a perpetual blossom along her cheek and the curve from neck to shoulder. With the water still fresh against it all, they nearly seem new.

Reborn doesn't look away. Instead, he takes it in- all of it. Lal Mirch wears her battle scars like they're fine silks, even going so far as to cock her head to the side so that they're all the more exposed to his eye. He'd have to be an impressive amount of oblivious to miss the silent challenge for what it is.

"Looks like it hurts," he says.

Her eyes flash. "Not a bit," she says, and it doesn't taste like a lie coming from her mouth.

"Good."

Lal Mirch's eyebrows rise up at the response and, at the same time that Reborn can feel someone else rise up behind him. There's no need for him to look over his shoulder; there's only one other person who could form so seemlessly from seemingly nowhere in Loyalty's domain. He does so anyway, just enough to see that familiar cocky and aggressive smirk over broad shoulders. While he can't entirely be sure, Reborn is enough so to suspect that Colonello is as devoid of clothing as Lal Mirch is. In fact, he might be completely and utterly nude. While she continues to size him up some more, Reborn speaks up again. "Do you two always walk around completely nude, or is that merely luck on my part?"

What kind of luck? That part he leaves up to the imagination. Colonello slips around his side, the rope around his own hips hanging low, and knocks his head forward to grind into Reborn's own forehead. Not budging an inch, he grinds right back, even as he quirks up an eyebrow and smirks lightly. With the action returned, Colonello grins all the sharper. Is he enjoying himself? It certainly seems like it. "Got a problem with it, hey?" he asks.

The words _Not at all_ don't get a chance to leave Reborn's lips. Lal Mirch shoves her hand inbetween their faces, flicking Colonello's nose and her knuckles bumping against Reborn's face. Ignoring her other half's protests, Lal Mirch crosses her arms. "Are you just here for a social call then?" Skepticism laces her tone, but her shoulders are lax, now. At least, she doesn't appear as if she's about to shoulder slam him.

His own shoulders roll up in a loose shrug. "Why not?" he asks. "I thought that you might be interested to know how Tsuna has turned out. He was the result of your bet, after all."

Colonello moves away from Reborn to settle alongside Lal Mirch, the pair trading a glance. What's traded in only a look, deeper than words can go? Reborn can do nothing but guess. It takes merely seconds before Lal turns away with a shrug. "Fine. Sit down. There's plenty of room."

Reborn looks out before the endless ocean and its equally endless kingdom of coral. Then he looks down at his feet, where the water has submerged most of his calves and, thus, drenched his pants into sopping messes. "I think I'll stand," he says simply.

Both halves of Loyalty pause, glancing back to him over their shoulders. "You'll deny our hospitality?" Colonello asks, teeth bared in a smirk while Lal's eyes narrow into slits.

No wonder Fon likes them. They're always so _combative_. Reborn bats the edge of his cloak away, so that his arms don't tangle up in it. "Is hospitality normally meant to be so pushy?" he says dryly. That's really all the justification Colonello needs. Immediately, the other man bursts forward, low to the water, and his fists jabs out to Reborn's stomach. Or, at least, the space where Reborn's stomach used to be. Children could dodge a telegraphed punch like that. For him, it's all the easier. Yet the water grasps at his legs as he twists and skips to the side, forcing him to draw his legs up higher for the same amount of speed he'd have on land. Perhaps that's why, even with a missed hit, Colonello is still grinning.

Then again, perhaps it's because of Lal Mirch coming in from Reborn's other side. Where Colonello hit low to start with, Lal goes lower with a jab of her foot towards Reborn's ankles. Water rolls upwards with the movement, slapping into his knees, and he barely manages to sidestep. Exchanging kicks,they dance together for a few minutes more than fight. Furious and fast paced, they twist and dart through the shallows. Colonello darts in now and then, his arms swiping and jabbing at Reborn. Fighting both of them takes all of his concentration... yet he can't say he minds. Not with how his blood burns with every impact of his and Lal's legs, or how his heart aches with every near miss of Colonello's fists. It'd be a lie to say he didn't consider this a possibility of their meeting. Yet the difference between his past thoughts and what's currently happening is the tone.

Lal Mirch and Colonello don't hold back. It's not in their personalities to go easy on anyone. Yet, perhaps to the surprise of some people, there's a difference between that and murderous intent... of which Reborn is more than familiar with, coming from Lal Mirch. Neither of his opponents ever step over the fine line between the two, nor do they ever come close to it.

It's not all fun and games, of course. Reborn is reminded of that when he fends off Colonello once more. The blond isn't as much of a constant as his partner is, so it's become part of the routine for him to dart back for the right timing to come right back in again. Yet this time... Only a moment after he retreats, Reborn hears the roar of waves.

Some things can't be avoided. All Reborn can do is ground himself against the coral and sigh before his frame becomes battered with seawater.

As the water settles again, he rakes his fingers through his hair and blinks the water from his lashes. Salt is heavy against his lips as he deadpans, "Was that necessary?"

Colonello looks far too cocky and far too attractive in the way that he sweeps his fingers through his hair, tossing short blond strands back with the easy movement. Wringing the seawater out from her hair, Lal doesn't look smug, which is good, but she does look _victorious_ , which has about the same effect as her other half. "Mad we got you a little wet?" Colonello asks, jeering and abrasive. It's crude, there's no mistaking that, but Reborn doesn't hate it.

There's almost more acceptance in that lewd tease than there had been in the invitation to sit with them.

Fighting against things now is pointless, which they're all aware of, so Reborn sloshes through the water. While he might be soaked down to the bone he can still look better than he feels about it, and so he slides down into the water with an easy elegance. The water swallows him up, chill in a way that's somehow perfect, and slips around his ribs with little fuss. In much the same way, Lal sits down besides him, and Colonello flanks her other side. "So, your little spark is finally a proper god?" she asks, sitting straight. From around her, Reborn can see Colonello press his hands down onto the coral behind him so that he can lean back.

"What took so long?"

What took so long indeed. "His domain is a bit vague," Reborn says simply, which isn't wrong. "It took some outside prodding to ignite him." And there is what he really wants to talk about. Keeping one eye on both halves of Loyalty, he continues. "It wasn't like anything I'd encountered, which is unusual considering what I am. She almost felt like a shard of Chaos, in fact."

It doesn't take long to see a reaction. Colonello stiffens up from his easy going lean, and Lal's head snaps right towards him. Reborn half expects one of them to ask what he'd done, what he'd ruined. Instead, Lal growls, "There's _more_ of them running around!"

Not that he's surprised, but still. "There was an accomplice she was with," he says, a lot more idly than the situation warrants, "yet I have a feeling you mean even more than that."

"We found one aligned to us not long ago," Lal says, her voice dark and her eyes bright. "He thought he was something impressive."

Judging by the sharp smirk on Colonello's face, Reborn feels he can guess with some accuracy that the unnamed creature of Loyalty didn't have very long before his ego was given a blunt reminder to his place in the universe. The only question is on how long it might last. "Did you notice any others?" he asks, curious and wary both.

"Fon says he ran into something amusing, so probably something on his end," Colonello confirms. "Hey, you said there was another one. Who was it connected to?"

Xanxus? Reborn thinks on the question and draws up in his mind's eye the way he'd furiously burned and smoldered at Tsuna's supposed insolence. It'd been a furious red, but somehow, deeper within it... "Fon's as well," he says, "but with something else to him."

Lal scoffs, sharp and short. "More trouble is the last thing this world needs. Between Mammon's secrets, Verde's machinations, Skull's ineptitude, and Fon being _himself_ , there's enough that could keep everything busy for eternity."

"He ran off before we had a chance to grab him," Colonello huffs, just as aggravated as his partner. "I don't know where. Even looking everywhere-" Reaching up, he taps underneath one of his bright blue eyes. "Even these couldn't spot him, hey. Nowhere on the mortal realm, and nowhere in ours, either. It looks like they've found a really good hiding spot, so we'll have to wait until they pop up again." For creatures such as them, that makes Xanxus and the others like him quite the mystery.

Reborn has a feeling he can untangle it... just not now. Not because he can't, necessarily, but because there's something more important to talk about for him. "Whatever they might be, at least they were useful for one thing," he says, faux relaxed even as he continues to gauge their reactions. "I have to say I'm surprised. Circumstances as they were, I thought Tsuna would take more after me since Dino is clearly Luce's, even if he was born in Her realm." Yet what do the two of them have in common? Tsuna doesn't even share the color of himself; Dino at least has those golden strands atop his head. Where Reborn is sharp and selfish and unwillingly dark, Tsuna is soft and too caring and burned bright, even if at the last possible moment.

For a long quiet while, Lal Mirch and Colonello look at him, into him... and then she says, rather bluntly, "You're an idiot."

This is not the first time she has said as much about him, although Reborn has kept his nose out of it. Considering the marks still warped along her skin, he thinks she's earned that right. Still, if she's going to say it to his _face_... "Care to enlighten me on why?" he asks dryly, raising an eyebrow.

She probably didn't need the prompt, but Lal takes it regardless. "For someone who's the embodiment of blurring even the concept of neat lines and order, you're stuck on things like they can be black and white." Her lips curls. "How do you think chaos can _exist_?"

"That's not a rhetorical question," Colonello adds lazily.

How can he exist? It's not exactly the kind of philosophical question he'd expect from Lal Mirch of all people, so he gives it his due attention. He exists... he supposes because She _wanted_ him to exist. There'd been nothing for Her, and She'd wanted to see it changed. When he voices that, however, Lal and Colonello scoff in time with one another. "So there was nothing with her before any of us?" she asks, eyes half narrowed and her cheek resting in one open palm. "We didn't exist at _all_?"

"Obviously we did." Reborn can still remember it: churning and half conscious and only partially "himself" as he is now.

"So?" Lal is an impatient teacher. From beneath the water where her fingers tap impatiently against coral, small waves lap outwards.

Well, he'd best not to keep her waiting. It's a bit disjointed, but so are their existences in many ways, and thus Reborn follows the pattern of her own thoughts. "I exist," he says slowly, ready in case she tries to hit him upside the head for a wrong answer, "because other things exist." No hit. He's on the right track. Yet her and Colonello watch him still, waiting for him to continue. "I exist because _order_ exists."

Finally, that satisfies her, and it doesn't escape his notice how her hand and Colonello's are settled side by side: next to each other, pinkies lining up, skin touching skin, and yet still separate. "We can't exist on our own," she states matter of fact, solid as talking about the color of Colonello's eyes or recounting the way her scars travel along her skin. "But that doesn't mean we rely on someone else, although She is a different matter entirely."

"Although maybe not too much," Colonello muses.

Lal moves on. "We're Loyalty above all else, but we can't understand it unless there's division in us, too. Mammon has to stop wanting, occasionally-"

"Or else they would have helped bring about the end of the world."

" _Your_ whole problem," Lal growls, jabbing a finger at his chest, "is that you got carried away. You can _still_ get carried away. You don't think about any other part of yourself besides what gives you the most pleasure immediately. You don't even bother to remember where you _come from_ , and that's why it was such a pain to get you to calm down."

Where he comes from, huh? "Void isn't the opposite of Chaos," he points out, and the finger nearly jabs into his face. If not for the effortless way he avoids it, then he'd probably have lost an eye. At least, he would have lost it or a minute, maybe.

"It's the opposite of everything," Colonello points out while Lal bares her teeth. "It's still a part of us too, hey, or did you forget about that?"

Some of them more than others, he reflects as his hand passes over the front of his cloak. Even in the water where any normal cloth would float, it still wraps close to his body. Ever since it was first cinched around his throat, at his chest, it's never loosened at all. Lal can say it's a part of him all she wants, but...

Reborn is certain that there's no expression on his face to give away the thoughts churning through his mind. While he might be occasionally unsteady, he's been trying to work on making his face as blank as the black cloak which wraps around him. That doesn't stop Lal from scoffing, and she slips off of the coral. There must be a smaller ledge below her, because she's still standing with the water up to her chest as she wades to the front of him. "Maybe this was doomed to happen anyway."

Warnings are flickering through his head, bright and sharp as rainforest birds taking flight. Reborn stays calm against the sensation, and instead watches as she crosses her arms against his knees. "What was? If you care to answer." That's half a joke in its own right. Lal has never bothered to hide her thoughts, and only occasionally her feelings if he recalls her right.

"A reminder." The cryptic answer isn't much. In fact, it's the sort of thing that he expects more from Fon or Luce than Lal, straightforward as she is. Still, it's hard for him to pay much mind to it. His attention is ensnared instead by the feeling of a broad chest pressing into his back, Colonello's breath on his neck. Nostalgia flows over him as easily as water. That's right... They've been in this position before. It wasn't that long ago, really. Colonello bracing himself from behind, Lal digging in from the front. Instinctively, the memory has him want to lash out. _Not again, not again_. They're hissed out words that come from the deepest parts of himself. Her hand settles on his thigh before he can do anything, and Reborn looks into those deep red eyes.

Red as blood flowing through every beast and human. Blue as the oceans which claim so much of the world. Together, she is part of what binds everything.

"None of us are wholly our own," she says, and Reborn remembers. Right, of course.

These two are what make up him, as well.

"You can't just tell me this?" he asks, trying to hide how reluctant he really is. That would be the easy way, he knows. This can't be easy.

Sure enough, Lal snorts at him, her eyes narrowed and unimpressed. Colonello actually laughs at him, his voice sneaking into Reborn's ear warm as anything. "Did you really think so?" he asks while Lal leans against Reborn's legs. "You need a reminder stronger than what only words can give you. It'll be good for you."

Reborn's voice is dry enough to start an entirely new landmass in this endless ocean. "Just me?"

Finding a patch of skin, Lal twists her fingers sharply to get his attention. "What's good for everything else is good for you," she growls, patience dwindling. That can't be surprising either. "So?"

So. Will he let them do it? That's the question that's being asked here, he knows. As he is, Loyalty combined could drag him down and drown him as easily as breathing. As easily as anything at all. Yet, even with Colonello at his back and Lal waiting at his front, they ask. This is something he has to choose for himself. A second chance, he realizes, sitting there. Unlike the others, he gave himself no name, gave himself no form. Those were things which had to be forced onto him before everything could be destroyed.

He can do differently, this time. He can accept the offer that's before him.

Lal's eyes haven't strayed from his face the entire time he's contemplated this offer. Finally, he looks into them properly and doesn't shy away. In the end... "I did come here for this," he acquiesces, which he knows to be true deep down. He came for this second chance. He came to see them and patch over some of the destruction that he'd wrought. If he backs out now, what will have been the point?

She doesn't smile. Not exactly. All that happens is that the hardness that's filled Lal's eyes softens slightly. "Good," she says, quiet and satisfied. When she reaches up, her touch isn't gentle at all. In fact, the way her fingers slide against his face and then grip down make Reborn think that she might be getting ready to tug his head again and smash her own against it. She doesn't do that. Instead, all she does is hold him there.

Around them, the water deepens.

"None of us are wholly our own," she repeats. _They_ repeat; Colonello's voice is an undercurrent beneath hers, two parts of the same whole. "We were all too wrapped up when we first left. We are each other. We are all from the same place."

The water is rising. Or maybe he's sinking. It's hard to tell and mostly immaterial regardless. Here, with Loyalty, in Loyalty, it's one and the same. This is the kind of place where the destination, right now if no other time, is more important than the journey. Reborn doesn't fight against it, or leave. He doesn't take his eyes away from Lal Mirch. Instead, he watches her. He watches as the water rises up past her shoulders, meeting her hair, becoming her hair, becoming her. He's only seen her in this state once; their battle showed an entirely different part of her. In this way, she is calm and beautiful as her skin turns translucent. Her eyelashes are crystalline every time they brush against what was once a cheek. When she breathes, ice crackles along his legs as if brushed by winter's first touch, and it lingers along her lips. The water is her hands now, and her chest. She is completely bare. Behind him, Reborn is sure that Colonello must be the very same way, and there is a glacier at his back.

He's never seen them more beautiful.

Around his head, his hair curls and twists lazily in the water. He's completely submerged, now, and light only seems like a faint concept in the water with the clouds so thick way up high. Lal is still before him, her form warped in a thousand different little ways and still connected to her domain. Her hands are no longer solid. Now, they are things of concept, and he feels them more than sees them. In particular, he feels them brush down past his throat and settle around his throat. Lal is still not particularly gentle, but that doesn't take away the relief Reborn feels which makes it so sweet. When he next hears her voice, it's not the kind which is spoken from lips or originates in a throat. Instead, he feels it hum from somewhere deeper. He feels it from inside himself, too.

 _Give into us._

It's not a question or an inquiry. Reborn has already allowed things to go this far; he won't back out now. It's not sharp or hard enough to be a demand, either. Rather, as he slowly allows his shoulders to ease away from their tension, he considers that it's simple guidance. He's out of his depth, and in theirs, so... Letting his eyes slide shut, Reborn parts his lips. Air bubbles past them. In their stead, water slips past. It collides gently against his teeth, curling gently around his tongue afterwards, and he observes with quiet uncertainty as it goes down to fill his lungs. It fills his stomach.

It fills him.

They both do.

Reborn is Chaos, and Chaos is Reborn. Whatever happens, it will never change this basic fact of reality. He cannot _be_ anything but himself. That's that. Yet while he cannot be Loyalty, cannot be Lal Mirch or Colonello, he gets a taste of it, down in their overwhelming embrace. They were right, he realizes, as the water sinks into the space under his nails. Even when he was nameless and formless, he still was part of them, too. Did he not stay when they were all new and young? Did he not curl around Luce, and hold her close when they danced that first fiery dance? Water stings at his eyes as he looks back at every little memory that rests within his head, seeing things newly. It's not only Loyalty, either. Desire, and Suffering, and Innovation, and Creation, and Catalyst: they have been in his steps and in his chest.

There's been one other thing, too, that he's been oblivious to.

When Reborn opens his eyes again- black as his origin, black as their home- he's laying on his back against the surface of the coral reef again. At some point when he wasn't paying any mind, the water became shallow once more. Here, it only comes up a few inches, perhaps, tickling the curve of his ears and pillowing his head. The sky is still as gray as it ever was. Darker now, actually, as he lays there for a few moments more simply to stare. Yet eventually he must move, and so he tilts his head to look on either side of him. Both Lal and Colonello are still with him, no longer formless but absolutely without any of the scant bits of clothing that they had on when he first arrived. In exchange for that, they both seem utterly at ease no matter the tufts of blond that peek up from his pelvis or the dark blue that shows clearly when Lal has her arms stretched up to fold behind her head like they are. It takes him a moment, mind still feeling as though water is swishing through his head, to notice that both of them have more than their fair share of scars. It's more than the burns which have left their searing kisses against her shoulder and face. There are dozens of them all along their arms, scattered across their legs, stretched over their stomachs and chests.

Ah. Of course. To accept loyalty is to accept the battle wounds that sometimes come with it. Even as the realization lulls into him, Reborn glances down at himself and has to blink. The cloak he's always wore so tightly around himself... is gone. In its place is a simple tunic that falls to his thighs, strings leaving the front just slightly undone, and his legs completely bare. This would be worrying, on a normal day. Still, the ocean remains undisturbed, and the clouds hold together strong. Past them, he knows that the world is untouched, at least as it will ever be. For a while, Reborn ponders how to respond.

Well, there's only one way how. "Was it necessary to strip me?" he drawls, letting the implication speak for itself. At his sides, both halves of the pair stir into awakening.

Pushing himself up onto one elbow and resting against his side, Colonello lets his free hand sweep his hair back and grins. Reborn doesn't bother to pretend he's not looking. "Wish we'd gone a little further?" he says, voice rough as stormy waves, and he leans closer. Reborn meets him halfway.

"I'd rather be conscious in that case. Or are you only so confident when you're not getting any feedback?"

"I'm going to drown both of you," Lal mutters, and annoyance is in her expression when Reborn looks back at her. "If you're going to do anything, just do it. Or do I have to play referee to your measuring contest?" Despite her words, there's still something fond in the upturned twist of her lips. Colonello may have been made as her other half right from start, but that doesn't change the fact that Reborn can easily see why his choice wouldn't change at all looking at her right now.

It seems as though it would be very easy to lay there with the pair, the water a relief against his skin and their company a balm to his issues. Still, he thinks he's wasted too much time here as it is. Pressing his palms into the coral beneath them, he gets up to his feet and begins to adjust his clothes. Where he's going, he's going to need to have all his restraint about him. That means... It takes a little bit for him to remember the lesson he's been taught, even if it has only just finished. Even if he accepts it, the void is still suffocating and thick to his existence. So he's slow when he adjusts the front of his shirt, and only faintly quicker as he dusts his legs off until pants form beneath his swatting palms. When he finally dares to draw a cloak around his shoulders, it feels as heavy as ever... but not so tight.

How much of that is perception versus reality?

With his toes curling over the edge of the coral platform, he looks down into the water. After a certain depth, details become lost, and all that meets his gaze is black. "Would you mind if I took a shortcut from here?" he asks, for politeness' sake. "There's more than only you I wanted to see."

Rising up into a sitting position herself, Lal raises an eyebrow at him. "I guess," she says, noncommittally, pulling her hair away from her back. "Who do you plan on seeing exactly?"

"Someone good at finding and keeping secrets." It's not a detailed answer. It doesn't have to be. Even before he turns away, he can see understanding flash through the pair's eyes. Reborn doesn't stick around to see much more. Instead, he takes a step off of the platform... and sinks.

They were right. In many ways, things that may seem opposite are integral to one another. It shouldn't be a surprise that the same remains true for the Void. A shallow look would say that it exists only as something outside of the world, and inbetween the realms that the Arcobaleno and the young gods have created. Ridiculous, really. There's a part of the Void within the world, too. Reborn can feel it, lessened but no less _itself_ , the deeper he sinks into the water. At some point, he's left the realm of Loyalty. Telling exactly when is impossible, and doesn't matter. All that matters is when it feels as though he has gone as deep as is possible... and he slows down to a still float.

This isn't the realm of the one he's looking for... but he knows it's where they've decided to hide out.

Around him, there's nothing but darkness. Light is completely absent here, and he can't see even the faintest grasps of it from over his head. In another time, before he went to see Lal and Colonello, he doesn't think he'd be able to handle it. There'd be no hesitation before he would have railed against it all, and tried to set it ablaze from anger and panic both, although he would have never admitted to the latter. Now, however, he just takes in a long slow breath. There's nothing here that he is not already familiar with, that he is not already carrying in himself and on his shoulders.

A face jolts out from within the darkness.

In such deep blackness, anything would look pale by comparison, and this counts for Mammon as well. In fact, he would almost say that his fellow Arcobaleno looks unnatural in this light, or lack of it... but that is by far the least warped thing about their appearance. Their eyes are too large for their skull, and their jaw too long with a mouth that stretches far past its regular limits. Surely their body must be different as well, hidden away down in the abyss as they are, but he can't see any of it. Part of it must surely be the surge of bubbles that is around their body and which clusters at their shoulders. Something lurks within all of them, life waiting to stir as well as any nest of eggs; Reborn can sense that with only a glance. The downside, however, is that trying to see past it all to Mammon's body is impossible.

He can certainly see their hands, if nothing else. It's hard not to, when they're reaching forward to flick at the opening to his cloak to send it fluttering. Fingers too short, and the webbing between them far too high. "Well," says Mammon, the brilliant gold reflection of their eyes unblinking, "I have to say that you're the last person I would have ever expected to see down here."

"And you're the first I would think of," Reborn answers back smoothly. Both of them know the reasons why behind their prospective statements, but he won't dignify their own statement with any focus. "You were the last one to be tugged out from the Void. It definitely kept a tight grip on you, didn't it?"

"Ha." As their lips part, he can see a hint of the rows and rows of needle-like teeth which hide in the shadows of their mouth. They're monstrous. It's beautiful. "Well, one of our number has had to remember what things lurk far away and down below." Tilting their head to the side, they consider him. Down here, no pupils rest within their gaze. "Still, I know you didn't come down here for idle chatter." Their eyelids lower, lazy and predatory, and their lips shift into a faint smirk. "I can taste the desire to know off of you."

What other things pass over that tongue of theirs? He's sure the answer would be interesting, but that's not the one he's seeking today. "While I was talking with some of the others before the bet and before you arrived," he says, casual as anything, "they mentioned you had been something of a recluse. I thought I would see how you were fairing." He tilts his head towards them as well. "See how you were doing with those new creations of yours."

Mammon doesn't so much as blink at the thinly veiled accusation. Perhaps they've made themselves unable to. "Now what makes you think I had anything to do with that?" they murmur, their hand rising up to cradle one cheek. It's not a denial.

"There's no way to hide from any of us," Reborn says matter of factly. "We make up this world. If anything strange happens on it, and within it, then one of us would take notice. The only exception to that... is if it's somewhere far away from most things. If it's too dark for our gazes to see." Their eyes meet, black to gold, and he quirks up an eyebrow. "Most gazes, anyway, if they're not used to the darkness. Yet since you've been absent for so long, and are always drawn to things like this anyway..." Lazily, he rolls his shoulders in a shrug. "Even if you didn't create them, I knew that you would have at least seen something."

Something like a huff slips out from between their pouting lips, even though no bubbles follow the sound. "There's no getting things past you," they mutter, trying not to sound sulky and failing. "Still, there's something you're wrong about, you know." A smirk again. "I wasn't the one that created them."

Disbelieving, his eyebrows raise up. "What?"

"Is it really that surprising?" They slump over the mass of bubbles that billow around their body and fills the space behind them. "What would I have gotten from making creatures like that? Or do you think I made them on purpose for some reason?"

"Your reason is usually enough if it's 'you want to'," Reborn points out dryly.

Mammon shrugs carelessly. "Be that as it may," they continue on, "it wasn't me." There's that wispy smirk again. "Do you want to know who is responsible? I'll tell you." They lean closer, pressing over the bubbles. "It was the humans." His surprise must show in his face somehow, because Mammon laughs quietly to themself while leaning back again. "They're surprising, aren't they? I bet not even Verde could have imagined that they were capable of something like that. Still, they didn't do it on purpose. All they did was feed into something that was simply waiting for a chance to emerge."

"So you're saying they existed before now."

"In a way." Their gaze flicks up at him, focusing a little more. "Tell me... Do you think that our birth came with no consequences?" They nod pointedly down to his torso. "Do you think your clothes did?" Mammon's voice dips lower and quieter, fitting the dark space they both speak in. "Neither of those things were done neatly. The scraps that were left behind to be forgotten... They were something of their own too. Just not strong enough to _be_."

"..But humanity gave them something. What?"

"Fear." It's a simple answer, accompanied by a simple shrug. "They're so weak, and they know it. Their skin is soft, and their legs don't carry them nearly fast enough a lot of the time. Plenty of creatures can outdo them in one area or another, small or large. Yet even more than that, their greatest weakness is in their own heads. When night is on them, and they're left looking out into the darkness where their lights can't reach, well..." Smugness drips from Mammon's smile. "They realize how little they really know. And they realize how that feeling can be found in even each other. The better parts of such feelings are what feed those sons of yours, and any other gods that exist now or will exist in the future."

"And the darker ones," Reborn finishes, realization having struck him long before they finished speaking, "are what fed Xanxus and the others like him."

"That's right." Mammon finally deigns to move their hand, spreading out out to the side, and the darkness gives way to movement. Somehow, the shadows around them shifts into something material. His vision has to adjust to make out the specifics, but he realizes there are six tiny figures gathered neatly before both Arcobaleno. Dolls, each in the shape of something new. Two, Reborn can recognize. "Monsters in the trees and in their hearts, who they can blame all of their ills on. Who they _want_ to blame. How convenient for them."

No judgment laces their words. It's a matter of fact, and Reborn finds himself agreeing. It's hard to face one's inner fears... no matter what they might be. Besides, this answers one other thing for him. "No wonder Xanxus is so annoyed at some of the gods that are around." It's mixed insult and compliment, depending on how much one revels in strength over anything else, to only be viewed as something to be feared rather than worshiped in public under the light of day. He nods down to the cloak of bubbles that Mammon is lazying against. "Is that one more to be added to their numbers, then?" That could be a problem, if so. Dino, Hibari, and Tsuna are the only gods so far that have stepped foot into this new world. Xanxus' number is already a little more than that, and that's only the ones that Reborn knows of. Who knows what could happen to the balance of the world if its gods fell? Reborn tries not to think about his own feelings on the idea of Dino or Tsuna being cornered, specifically.

With a slow blink, as if they had to be reminded, Mammon glances down at themself. "Oh, her." Shapes that might be their shoulders rise up in the mass of bubbles, a sort of shrug. "No, no... On that note, you don't have to get so worked up. She arose from fear, too, but it's of a different sort. At least-" Their hand waves dismissively through the air, a movement which has the small shadow figures they created vanish into wisps. "The result they want is different. Thus, she'll be different."

Reborn takes in a breath through his nose, nostrils twitching, and recognizes the scent that filters through. "So she's a god." One that Mammon already seems quite confident in their knowledge about.

Mammon is all pride and smugness in the way they look up at him. "You think your sons are so encompassing and powerful? Well, be prepared to lose that title, because this one is going to be just as good, if not better."

Reborn could say a lot of things in response to that. He could point out that he never particularly wanted children, so it's not as if he's trying to slight Mammon's pride on _purpose_. (It's an amusing bonus, to be sure, but it's not purpose.) He could mention that child rearing isn't exactly supposed to be a competition, of all things. There's always an opportunity to see if he can get those loose lips flapping a little more, if only to see how much Mammon really knows and what kind of god it will be that takes form here in the depths, embracing the entity of Desire so closely.

Later, maybe. Right now, he doesn't particularly care.

Instead, he says, "Good luck with that." The response has Mammon's eyelids droop and their lips pout in disappointment, which is possibly the best result he thinks he could have gotten. Much like Fon, the key to winning against Mammon is to simply not care, at least when one can afford to do that. "At any rate, that's all I wanted to ask about. Try to remember there's a world beyond these depths instead of getting caught up in all of your watching, won't you?"

He doesn't need to hear what they say after that. With a tug of his cloak, he twists away, darkness and void taking him somewhere else. Taking him to land, and the sun. It's a set of cliffs somewhere, towering high over the waters and sweet smelling grass decorating its topside. For a long moment, he stands there and looks over onto the horizon. From here, this simple vantage point, the ocean seems as endless as his existence. On some level, it is. At that line where sight can no longer go any farther, he knows that's the point where the waters ships can sail disappears and are instead replaced by those with brilliant coral platforms waiting just beneath the surface... and then, past that, depths that not even most Arcobaleno save one make themselves at home in.

Elsewhere, clouds roll across the sky, carrying suffering with them, and occasionally lightning and storms crackle through their masses as much as innovation and catalysts do through people and creatures.

Underneath it all, underneath the sky, things are created.

Above, the sun burns, and chaos shines just as bright even in places where light can't reach.

Reborn closes his eyes, feels all of it thrumming throughout his body and his essence, and breathes. That's right. None of them are wholly their own. All of them are connected. It's a lesson that he needs to keep, as much as the clothing which rests across his body. He can't afford to forget.

With his eyes open, Reborn turns on his heels and goes to find his family.

It's easy to pick up on where they are. Gods, he's found, change the air and the world around them simply by being on mortal earth. His own especially call to him, fires that burn brightly and signal to him where his sons lie. It's a different thing than sensing the other Arcobaleno. With them, it's a lot more subtle but easy to find if one knows where to look. Like realizing that clouds have changed direction, or the tide has risen up. As it turns out, and as far as he can tell, they're right where he left him: in the small little town on the edge of the lake.

Reborn takes his time in getting there. Already around him, he can sense the world is still changing. Gods, and Xanxus' kind, and things lesser than both of those: they're filling the world and dwelling within all that fills it. Amazing how much has changed in what feels like only the blink of an eye. The town itself, when he gets there, is both the same and very different. There's still the same kind of buildings, constructed in the way that its inhabitants know best, and he sees familiar faces when he emerges from the forest onto the path that leads into it. At the same time, there's no missing its changes. With its previous incarnation having become nothing but ash and ruin, it's only to be expected that some things have had to be rearranged. To his interest, they're clustered further along the waters edge now. No one massive building lays claim to it. As he lingers, eyes wandering, he finds that they're still building. People, those likely skilled in the craft of making buildings, are all along the water with the sound of chatter drifting from their direction and their arms gesturing wildly. Having homes on land is good. Seeing if they can drift further into the lake is potentially better, if a challenge.

There's no surprise in Reborn's breast when he sees his Dino right in the thick of it all, unseen and grinning as he nods along to the conversation. This is his specialty as much as anything else with horses might be. As long as people work, then he thrives. It doesn't take long before his eldest sees him, and Dino carefully extracts himself from the group to come jogging up to him. "Reborn! You look-" A pause as Dino does a quick glance over at him. It's not as subtle as he'd probably like... Or maybe Reborn's eyes are just too good. It's likely both. "Well."

"The conversations I had were good," Reborn says, explaining nothing. He likes having his secrets, even from his own sons. "It seems like they've recovered quickly here."

"Ha." Dino's smile is a little proud as he looks over the village and the people still working through it. "Well, we have focused our attentions here sometimes, although we've gone to other places that have called for us. Nearby towns heard and offered their help as well, although maybe they just wanted to hear the rumors."

"Let me guess: Tsuna."

Laughing under his breath, Dino starts to head further into the town, or at least the parts of it that are on land. "Let me show you what they've been making for him." Reborn can guess, simply because he remembers what happened when Dino and then Hibari first started to be known among mortals. Still, the details are what can't be the same, and he can't deny his curiosity for that in particular. So he follows after Dino laxly. As he does so, a quiet meow at his feet draws his attention downwards.

A black cat blinks up at him with amber eyes, and small bits of twine colored in some sort of dye are wrapped around its throat in a collar. It's pleasantly fat. It's also far from being alone, a fact that becomes all the more apparent the closer Dino takes him to the center of town where the shrines lay. His eldest son's is there as it was from when they first visited, rebuilt and decorated as always. Yet what's interesting is that small little thing that's attached to it. It's much smaller than Dino's, and not anywhere near as lavishly decorated. If anything, it's really just a fancy torch. Black cats of all sorts surround it, basking in the sun or ducking beneath what shadows can be found there. Every time someone passes by it, a cat almost inevitably is given some sort of attention. Sometimes that means a scratch behind the ears. Other times that means a nice long stroke down their sides. Every now and then, even as Reborn watches, a bit of food is left out for them.

"I see they have a decent idea of what's been touched by the divine," he says dryly, amused.

"Well..." Dino laughs, folding his fingers behind his head. "It was a little hard to miss when all the cats in town suddenly became black, and nothing they tried could make them go back to the color they were. Everyone views them as good luck. Personally, I think Tsuna is prefers that to being worshipped to himself." He nods to the minuscule addition to his own shrine. "He's had to tell them repeatedly throughout the seasons that he doesn't want anything too big for him. When some people dismiss that as just a dream, well, it's taken some doing."

So his latest son shies away from attention, huh? That's interesting to note. So is one other thing. "How many seasons have passed, exactly?" He'd known that time would be a bit strange in the realms of the Arcobaleno compared to the world of mortal lives, but how much is hard to guess at when he's right in them...

"A full cycle, at least- a year, you know." Dino glances at him, and some of his jovial mood ebbs back a little bit to make way for concern. "...Everything's going to be fine?"

Really... "You don't have to be so concerned," Reborn says, more careless and less grateful than he truly feels. "So where's Tsuna?" They've certainly been talking about him a lot, yet the young god himself has been nowhere around.

Being reminded of his brother snaps Dino out of it, and he looks around. "Oh, last I saw, he was over near some of the healers. This way, I think." It's not a far walk from the center of town to the large building that's been constructed for the injured, or sick. Not as many fill it as they would have some time ago, in the immediate aftermath of Xanxus' visit, yet there's still a few in there being tended to.

Finding Tsuna is easy. It's impossible to miss his wild hair, still so messy from Reborn's touch no matter the passage of time. Despite his father and brother both coming into view in the entryway, Tsuna doesn't pay them any mind. Instead, he's besides a girl who shares his youthful look, and who has all of his attention. The discarded sticks and cloth to the side tell a story, as does the way one of her legs trembles violently. With a god on one side of her and the unsurprising presence of Nana helping her balance on the other, she seems to be learning to walk all over again. It's a struggle, even with help, and all too soon she sinks back down onto the blankets and cushions set aside. Her shoulders slump, dragged downwards just like her gaze, and it's then that Tsuna quietly reaches over to brush his fingertips across her shoulder. His hands are still scarred and weak, every inch of them, but that's all she needs before the girl looks up against with a weary smile that belies the light in her eyes.

"Hey, Tsuna!" Dino calls over to him, and grins brightly to meet the startled look his little brother gives him. "Look who came back!" As if Reborn could ever really leave.

Reborn isn't an easy person to miss either, with his absence of color and imposing height, and yet the flabberghasted expression that spreads across Tsuna's face says he's been completely oblivious up until Dino had pointed him out. "You're okay!" he exclaims, getting up to his feet and hurrying over. His concern is a little bit of a mystery until Tsuna stops before them and keeps talking. "Dino said you weren't feeling well, and I thought you seemed-" His youngest comes to a stop, possibly at the way Reborn glances in deceivingly casual fashion at his eldest.

"Did he now?" he says, and only feels a little bit of satisfaction when Dino can't meet his gaze and instead just smiles with mingled nervousness and sheepishness up at the ceiling. Apparently, he's inherited his mother's tendency to say things Reborn would really rather not be said. Considering Tsuna's aborted sentence, he's just as bad. Well, he can harass his sons later about it. For now, Reborn steps around the subject neatly as he returns his attention down to Tsuna and says, "You're doing better as a god now?"

"I guess?" Tsuna grimaces a little, even as he raises his hands to start gesturing along with his words. "It's still too much, honestly, and I'd kind of like it to stop?"

"It's not going to," Reborn says bluntly, and his youngest huffs out a breath out air.

"Still," he whines. "I'm still aching from what happened with Xanxus, and it feels so weird-!"

His hand flaps through the air, stopped only when Reborn grasps it quite suddenly. Tsuna gives a small surprised yell, but Reborn pays it no mind. Instead, he focuses on carefully inspecting the hands that, up until now, have only been things which he's seen in passing instead of up close like this. For a normal human, he doubts they'd be able to use their hands at all in such a state. No longer soft and fidgety, Tsuna's hands have been practically burned to a crisp. That they can retain any sort of flexibility is impressive in its own way when everything has been made brittle and charred, with each crack telling stories of pain more horrific than most know or would ever want to know. Of their own accord, they twitch sometimes, sharp and stiff.

Underneath Reborn's piercing observation, Tsuna fidgets only a little in silence. It's Dino who leans in close and begins to murmur, "We went to see Her not too long after you went off. Aria said he did it to himself."

That makes sense, Reborn supposes. This, too, might be a consequence of what happens when a god is kept from their dominion for too long, and finds their power and purpose all at once in the face of life and death. "Will it heal?" he asks simply, keep his voice simple and to the point.

Dino makes a faint noise in the back of his throat that isn't much of an answer at all. "It might? It's too soon to tell." Underneath his words are the unspoken reminder for all of them that they're far different from mortals. Their lives will go on for much longer, surpassing generations of that which thrives on this earth. In the same way... Perhaps any wound deep and powerful enough to affect them at all will take some time of its own to fully heal. There's only one way to find out.

"They _especially_ hurt," Tsuna whines at long last, unable to hold himself in for much longer. Indulgently, Reborn lightly baps the side of his hand against Tsuna's. There's so much hair there that he doubts it's really painful by any stretch of the imagination, but Tsuna still whines a little more.

"It could be worse," he reminds him. "Xanxus _did_ want to kill you." With that said, he turns on his heel and steps back into the paths of the town.

"Don't remind me," Tsuna groans, tagging along with his older brother who laughs at him and ruffles his hair. "I don't want to see him ever again!"

Reborn smirks at him over his shoulder. "Then you'll be disappointed that, besides Lussuria, there are four more things just like him." It's not that he takes any particular _pleasure_ from watching the melodramatic despair cross _both_ of his childrens' faces. Really, it's for their own good. They should know that their lives are only going to be all the more excitable from here on out.

It just happens to be a small side bonus.

Ignoring how his sons feel about the idea of more Xanxus or anything like him, Reborn continues on. "So, what do they pray for when it comes to you?" he asks, passing by the twin shrines again and glancing over them. Some of the cats are stirring in interest as they sense Tsuna's approach, with a few getting up to stretch and follow after him. It's the aftermath of that battle all over again. Reborn hopes they don't get an entourage, if only for the sake of not having to wade through a small army of cats. "For that matter, what have they come to call you?"

For creatures like the Arcobaleno and gods themselves, the names they have can be plentiful when it comes to that which is known among humans. Every village, every traveling group, has something different that they call the beings they know of but have never interacted directly with. For Dino alone, Reborn has heard a few different titles: the gold rider, the bucking horse, the first child, light and labor. He could go on for a year just reciting them all. In that same year, he's not sure if Tsuna's influence has really been felt. How many stories could really be told about such a fledgling god with his small shrine? Yet that there is a shrine at all says that, surely, there must be a name attached as well.

Being asked about it at all draws a flush onto Tsuna's face, and he drags a hand across it as though that might help block so much blushing. He looks, to Reborn's amusement, _embarrassed_. "Ember and Wildfire," he mutters, practically having to shove the answer out from between reluctant teeth. Insistently, his older brother nudges him in the side all the harder with a grin on his face that reminds Reborn that they truly are related. Tsuna shrinks even harder in on himself. "Dino passed on the story of how I was born."

"I kept out the really embarrassing parts," Dino says cheerfully. Whether it's to reassure Tsuna, the more blatant option, or Reborn, the more subtle one, is hard to say even for the Marksman. "And they pray to him for all sorts of things. Mostly when they're at their lowest, honestly. Weak as weak can be, when there's nothing else for them. It's impressive how well he can fire them up."

Impressive, or expected? Reborn glances back down to Tsuna, who's still suffering quietly from his older brother's antics and teasing. Maybe the answer was in front of his face all along, ever since Tsuna had first come to being within the ashes of something which Reborn had so carelessly destroyed.

Maybe it's not so strange, either, that a god that knows weakness and strength together was born from something of Chaos. Faintly, Reborn thinks of the words his amber-eyed son spoke of in the ruins of this town.

Lal Mirch, as usual, continues to be a source of unexpected wisdom.

"Then you don't need to be babied any longer," he informs his youngest. Tsuna perks up at that, hopeful, only to immediately turn wary as he glances over Reborn.

"Wait... Does that mean I'm going to not be watched all the time anymore, or you're not going to go easy on me from now on...?"

Reborn just smirks and turns on his heel. "I'll see you both some other time," he says in farewell, and chuckles at the sound of Tsuna's alarmed yell at his back. All too quickly, it's swallowed up by nothing as he goes from one shadow to the next. From one world to the next.

Her realm welcomes him back with open arms.

No one else is there with Her- not Skull or Verde or Fun or anyone else. Still, Luce is seated very much where She was before, although the surroundings have changed slightly. Everything is in bloom, the poignant scent stifling the scent of decay that he knows is beneath it. Her fingers are still at work as if he had never left, with the only sign of change being the variety of flowers now making the chain. Nothing is said between them as Reborn comes closer, and She only looks up when he is close enough that their legs brush. Smiling indulgently, She finally puts Her work to the side before reaching up for him. Her fingers curve along his jaws in a way much different from Lal, and he lets his knees crumple underneath himself to be all the closer. With his arms folding onto Her lap, he closes his eyes... and becomes at ease.

"Ember and Wildfire," he murmurs into Her legs. "He's like you."

Her laugh is sweeter than a breeze. "And he's like you in all the ways you don't admit." Her fingers flick through his hair lightly, trailing down his neck and resting just at where his cloak meets his skin. "Now... That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Faintly, he wonders if She means raising Tsuna, or having form, or allowing himself to not suffocate under the weight of what he wears. Does it really matter? "I suppose not," he agrees quietly, and leaves it at that.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Thanks to everyone for being patient with this. This chapter came a little late, since I got a new job in November and have been preoccupied with training and things like that. This ends the second installment of Sevenfold. Hopefully the third will come sooner than this chapter did!


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